The big, fat Govinda family

Kunal M Shah discovers that Govinda has introduced the maximum number of family members in Bollywood. Here's a head count



Nephews

1

VINAY ANAND Vinay Anand, son of Govinda's
sister made his debut in 1999 with Sautela. The film also had Mithun Chakravathy in the lead role. The film sank at the box office. Later he was seen in Aamdani Atthani Kharcha Ruppaiya with Ishaa Koppikar and Dil Ne Phir Yaad Kiya with Tabu respectively.

2

KRUSHNA ABHISHEK Krushna Abhishek, son of
Govinda's sister Krushna made his debut in 2002 with Yeh Kaise Mohabbat. After a disastrous debut, Krishna did films like Hum Tum Aur Mom and Pappu Paas Ho Gaya before falling in love with Kashmera Shah.

3

ARYAN Govinda's nephew, Aryan has appeared in just one film called Be-Lagaam with Sharad Kapoor. After the film failed miserably, Aryan simply disappeared from
the scene.

4

JANMENDRA KUMAR AHUJA Son of Govinda's brother Kirti
Kumar, Janmendra started out as a director with Jahan Jayega Humein Payeiga starring Govinda, Krushna and Vinay Anand. However, it was quite a disaster.

5

ARJUN SINGH Arjun Singh is Govinda's sisterin-law Sangeeta's son and has just completed an acting course. He was seen in an ad-film with Shah Rukh Khan recently. He will make his acting debut.

6

NIECE RAGINI KHANNA Ragini, daughter of Govinda's
sister Kamini is all set to make her debut with Kahin Yeh Ishq To Nahih. The muhurat has just happened and the film also stars Samir Dharmaadhikari.

7

DAUGHTER NARMADA AHUJA Narmada, Govinda's daughter has just completed her acting course from Kishore Namit Kapoor and has many offers from industry bigwigs.

Brother & sister



8

KIRTI KUMAR Kirti Kumar made a promising debut in Hatya but later delivered duds like Radha Ka Sangam and the recent Ssukh. Kirti is doing nothing these days.

9

KAMINI KHANNA Govinda's sister Kamini
turned composer with an album on HMV titled Govinda. She also composed a song for his film Ssukh.

10

DEVENDRA SHARMA Govinda's brother-in-law, Devendra, has acted in quite a few films with Govinda including Radha Ka Sangam, Dulara, Saajan Chale Sasural, Do Aankhein Barah Haath. He was later taking care of Govinda's distribution office, Govinda Entertainment No.1.

Govt will ask pvt airlines to refund tax money: Minister

NEW DELHI: Private Airlines collecting taxes from travellers other than the passenger service fee will be penalised and made to refund such money, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel told Lok Sabha on Thursday.
“We will not only penalise but also make them refund the money collected on account of tax,” he said, replying to supplementaries on “Cartelisation by airline companies” during Question Hour.

‘GOVT DOESN’T REGULATE AIR TICKET FARES’

Patel made it clear that the government did not regulate the air fare levied by Airline companies.
He said that the government only levies Rs 221 as passenger service fee which is used for security of airports and to cover other related expenses. But Patel also added that air fares have reduced sharply owing to competition.
He further informed the Parliament’s lower house that there was no ongoing probe by the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practice Commission (MRTPC) into alleged attempts at cartelisation in the civil aviation industry by private airlines through mergers. PTI

International bravery award for Bihar girl

PATNA: A teenage girl in Bihar received $2,000 (Rs 79,574) and a letter of appreciation from an international association for saving five people from drowning during the recent floods in the state.
Supreme Master Ching Hai World Association, a Hong Kong-based International organisation engaged in humanitarian activities, facilitated Farzana Ahmad on Wednesday for her rare courage.
The 15-year-old had risked her life and saved a woman, three children and an obese man when an overloaded boat capsized in the swollen waters of Panar river in Purnea district this September. Yetu Ken, a representative of the association, visited Farzana’s village in Baisi and lauded her. He said she had inspired a large number of people, particularly children, by her act of bravery. Farzana belongs to a family below the poverty line.
Yetu Ken said Supreme Master Ching Hai World Association has honoured Farzana to publicise such rare feats that often go unreported.
“Farzana jumped into the river without wasting time after she heard their cries for help,” Jamil Ahmad, Farzana’s father, said.
Ahmad, a landless worker, said Farzana was washing her clothes when an overloaded boat carrying 15 people, three motorbikes and a couple of bicycles suddenly overturned and capsized. Ahmad said Farzana is an expert swimmer in the village, located near the river and she learnt swimming at a very young age.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced that Farzana — who had dropped out of school for economic reasons — would be educated free of cost. She has been admitted to Kasturba Gandhi School at Baisi.
Senior police officials and some local leaders have also announced rewards for Farzana. IANS

Law paper in English confuses students attempting in Marathi

Law college students attempting their exams in Marathi language were stumped on Thursday when they got the question papers in English. The question papers in English created chaos at most exam centres in the city. University officials say it was the paper setter’s mistake, students are worried if they will even score the passing marks.
Around 2,500 final year law students appeared for their first paper on Civil Procedure Court on Thursday. Out of these, around 15-20 per cent students opted for question papers in Marathi. Though the question papers are in Marathi, the students have the option of writing the answers in either English or Marathi.
A student whose centre was at Rizvi Law College said, “Even if we understand the language, it takes time to understand the questions in law. ”
Controller of Examinations Prakash Vani said, “It is not the university’s fault. We do not even check the paper till it reaches the centre. And all the packets are sealed. The paper setter is supposed to send two manuscripts. But they did not send the Marathi version. The paper setter will be be pulled up for the chaos.”

Understanding Basic Internet Jargon

Ajax
Short for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, Ajax is a set of techniques used by many modern web sites to allow interaction without reloading the entire page, allowing them to provide a more responsive experience while using less bandwidth and without interrupting the user's experience. For example, a site might allow you to rate a book by clicking on a star graphic. With Ajax, your vote could be registered without having to load the entire page again. For more information, see the Wikipedia article about Ajax.
Attachment
An attachment is a file such as a document or photo that is attached to an email message so that it can be viewed or utilized by the recipient.
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Bandwidth
Bandwidth refers to the amount of data that can be sent over a network connection at once. The term speed is typically interchangeable with bandwidth. Bandwidth is measured in bits or bytes per second. For example, a broadband home internet connection might have a bandwidth of 5 Mbps, or 5 million bits per second.
BitTorrent
BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer protocol that allows people to share files among themselves. BitTorrent can provide speed beyond that of some P2P protocols because every user who is downloading a file simultaneously uploads portions of the file he or she has already downloaded to other users, which means the more people in the downloading "swarm," the greater the overall speed. Many people use BitTorrent to share copyright-protected files such as music and movies, which is often illegal, but the BitTorrent protocol and software are legal and are used the world over for legitimate information, media, and software distribution. Wikipedia has more information about BitTorrent.
Bit
A bit is a unit of information that can have one of two values: on or off, usually described as 1 or 0. Bandwidth is often described in bits per second or bps (the "b" is always lowercase when it refers to bits). Large numbers of bits can be described in kilobits (kb or kbit), meaning 1,000 (or sometimes 1,024) bits, megabits (Mbit or Mb), for one million bits, gigabits (Gbit or Gb), for one billion bits, and so on.
Blog
Short for weblog (always one word, never "web log"), a blog is a type of web site which contains multiple entries (posts), always dated and usually in reverse chronological order, i.e. the newest posts are found at the top. Many blogs feature news stories, but often inject more opinion into news items than, say, a newspaper would. Some diaries are like personal journals; others, called photoblogs feature photography by the author; video blogs, or vlogs, take the form of frequently posted original videos. Some blogs have a single author, others have many. Many blogs allow readers to post their own comments at the end of each post. Most blogs provide RSS feeds.
Bookmark
A bookmark, called a favorite in some web browsers, is a saved URL that allows you to access a favorite web site quickly without memorizing the URL itself. Most web browsers have a Bookmarks or Favorite menu which lists all of your bookmarks, as well as a "Bookmarks Toolbar" or "Links Toolbar" for one-click access.
Broadband
In common usage, broadband refers to an internet connection that has more bandwidth than a dial-up connection. DSL and cable internet service are generally referred to as broadband. The actual speed of a broadband connection may be as low as 128 kilobits per second (kbps) and as high as 50 megabits per second (Mbps) and beyond. Broadband connections are typically "always on," meaning the internet connection is always active as long as the modem is plugged in.
Byte
A byte is a unit of information equal to eight bits. A file's size is usually described in bytes: One byte is enough to store one character, i.e. a letter, numeral, or symbol, without any compression. A kilobyte (kB--the "B" is usually uppercase when short for byte) is 1,000 (or sometimes 1,024) bytes, a megabyte (MB) is one million (or 1,048,567) bytes, and so on.
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Cable internet
Cable internet is a common broadband service that transfers data over cable television lines. Internet and television service can, and usually are, provided simultaneously over the same lines.
Cache
Pronounced "cash," the cache is a mechanism in most web browsers that stores recently-accessed pages, images, and other data so they can be displayed rapidly the next time they are accessed. For example, the first time you visited this page it probably took a few seconds to download. But if you navigated to another page, then returned to this one using the Back button, it would load from the cache almost instantly, rather than being downloaded a second time.
Client
Client can mean either a computer or a computer program that connects to another computer (a server) to consume the service or services the server provides. For example, when you download a file from a web site, your computer and the web browser you use can be considered the client whereas the computer sending you the file is a web server.
Cookie
A cookie is a small piece of data that a web site can store on your computer when you visit it. When you visit the site again, your web browser sends the cookie back to the server. Only the site that created the cookie will be sent the cookie--a web site cannot access cookies created by another site. Cookies are used by web sites to "remember" information about the visitor, such as whether or not they are logged in, or how long it has been since their last visit. The server gives each cookie an expiration time, from minutes to years, whereupon the cookie is automatically deleted by the browser. Most web browsers also include functions to view, manage, and remove cookies manually, as well as disable them entirely.
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Dial-up
Dial-up refers to an internet connection that takes place over regular telephone lines and, in fact, an actual telephone call. A dial-up modem must literally dial the ISP's telephone number in order to establish the internet connection, which causes the phone line to be "busy" and unusable for making phone calls as long as it is connected. Dial-up connections have relatively little bandwidth, usually 56 kilobits per second at a maximum.
Domain name
A domain name or hostname is a bit of text that identifies a server, e.g. tucows.com. A domain name corresponds to an IP address, but (usually) has the advantage of being easily-remembered text rather than a string of numbers. Most URLs include a domain name, for which the browser then requests an IP address from a DNS (Domain Name System) server in order to find the corresponding server. The last part of a domain name (e.g. the .com in tucows.com) is called the top-level domain, and second part from the right (e.g. tucows) is called the second-level domain. Second-level domain names (and in some cases third-level domains) may be purchased on a yearly basis from a domain name registrar.
Download
To download something is to receive data from another computer or device. For example, to retrieve a page or file from a web site is to download it. The speed at which you are able to receive data from the internet is often called your download speed, and is usually measured in bits or bytes per second.
DSL
An acronym meaning digital subscriber line, DSL is a common type of broadband internet connection that takes place over telephone lines but, unlike dial-up, does not tie up the line for phone calls. Some ISPs require a telephone service subscription before providing DSL service, but not by technical necessity--"naked" DSL, i.e. internet service without phone service, is available from many ISPs.
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Email
One of the oldest forms of communication on the internet, email (correctly spelled with or without a hyphen, i.e. e-mail) allows you to send and receive typed messages from your computer to another person's, provided you know their email address. You can also attach files, such as photos or documents, to an email message in order to share them with the recipient. Webmail refers to services which allow you to send and receive email from a web browser on any computer, rather than using a dedicated email client on your computer. Yahoo! Mail and Gmail are examples of free webmail services.
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FTP
Short for File Transfer Protocol, FTP is a protocol by which a client can send files or retrieve them from an FTP server. FTP is one of the internet's oldest protocols, but is still used by many system administrators and webmasters.
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HTTP
Short for Hypertext Transfer Protocol, HTTP is the protocol that a web browser uses to request a web page from a web server, and which the server uses to send the requested page back. Hypertext refers to documents that can be navigated using links. HTTP is no longer used exclusively for hypertext documents, however, and many kinds of media you view online are transferred using HTTP.
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IMAP
The second most popular protocol for storing and retrieving email, Internet Message Access Protocol is generally used to read, store, and organize messages on a remote server, rather than downloading them all to a single client computer, as is usually done with POP3. (This is a vastly simplified explanation. For a comprehensive discussion of this complex topic, try Wikipedia's article on the subject.)
IP address
A computer's IP (short for Internet Protocol) address, often shortened to just IP, is a unique number that computers use to identify eachother across a network such as a LAN or the What's My IP Address?
ISP
Short for internet service provider, an ISP is a company or organization that provides a connection to the internet to individuals and businesses, usually for a fee. Many telephone and television providers sell DSL or cable internet service over the same lines as their phone and TV services, and many offer other services such as email and web site hosting.
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LAN
Short for Local Area Network, LAN refers to a set of computers, usually all located in a small geographical area (such as a single office building or college campus), connected together in a self-contained network. Many LANs are in turn connected to the internet, but may or may not be part of the internet. A LAN may be connected using cables or wi-fi, or both.
Link
Short for hyperlink and called a shortcut in some web browsers, a link is bit of text or an image which, when clicked, directs the browser to another web page. Some links, however, perform action on the current page, as often in the case of Ajax.
Log in/out
To log in or sign in is to provide credentials--typically a username and password)--to identify yourself to a web site Many sites require users to log in in order to change their personal preferences, access private data, send messages to other users, and so on. To log out or sign out is to notify the site that you are no longer using it, which you will deny you (and other people who might use your browser) access to the above functions until you log in again. Many sites use cookies in to identify you once you have logged in.
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Modem
Short for modulator/demodulator, a modem is a device that prepares ("modulates") digital communications, such as your DSL or cable modem typically takes the form of a small box that connects to the your computer (or home router) and to the wall. Dial-up modems are usually integrated into the computer itself.
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Network
Any system of computers that can communicate with eachother can be called a network. Networks can consist of many different kinds of connections, from wire-based LANs to wireless wi-fi and even cell phone signals. The internet is a network that consists of millions of computers, including yours.
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Password
A password is a secret phrase or series of letters, numbers, and symbols that a person uses, typically in conjunction with a username, in order to prove that he is the person he claims to be. Ideally, a password will only be known to the user to whom it belongs. The most secure passwords are long, contain a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols, and cannot be guessed. For example, your birthdate or middle name make very poor passwords because they are short and easily guessed. "%60ef_Qq97$@R," on the other hand, is a strong password. In order to memorize a long password you can create a mnemonic (a mental memory trick), or you can use a secure password management program as described in How to Keep Track of All Your Passwords. You should not use the same password for many different web sites, especially ones that contain sensitive information about you (like banking or credit card data)--if a malicious party were to compromise the security of one site and access your password, they could use it to access your account on another site if you use the same password.
Peer-to-peer
Often abbreviated to P2P, peer-to-peer is a collective term for internet communication that takes place between two peers, such as your computer and a friend's computer, or the computer of someone you don't know in Germany, rather than communication for which one computer is a client and the other is a server. BitTorrent is an example of a peer-to-peer protocol in which you download files (or parts of files) from other users' computers rather than from a central server.
Podcast
A podcast is a feed used to distribute serial audio or video content, such as a weekly music show or video program. Like blogs, podcasts have many different formats and topics, from talk shows to cooking. Though the term is derived from Apple's iPod, you can listen to or watch podcasts on many different devices, and almost any computer with the right software. For more information on podcasts, check out Tucows' article How to Listen to Podcasts.
POP3
Short for Post Office Protocol version 3, POP3 is the most common protocol for receiving email messages. An email server stores messages that have been sent to you until you use your email client to retrieve them using POP3. See also IMAP and SMTP.
Port
When speaking about networking and the internet, a port is number that helps a computer decide what to do with information it receives over the network. Specifically, certain ports are reserved by certain programs. For example, port 80 is typically used for HTTP communication, so a web server will reserve ("bind to") port 80 so all communication received on that port will be sent to the web server program.
Protocol
A protocol is a set of rules that tells one computer how to talk to another so they can understand eachother. HTTP, for example, is the standard protocol that one computer (a client) uses to request that another computer (a server) send it a web page, and that the server in turn uses to send back the requested page. Every kind of communication on the internet requires at least one protocol to work.
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Reload/refresh
Pressing the Reload or Refresh button (or its keyboard shortcut, usually Ctrl+R or Cmd+R) in your web browser causes the page you're looking at to be downloaded from the web server again. This is useful if the content of the page has changed since you first loaded it. For example, if you are looking at an online auction site, you might reload the page to see if there have been any new bids.
Router
A router is a piece of equipment that connects two or more networks together. A common use for a router in a home or office is to connect multiple computers to a single broadband modem, which in turn connects them to the internet. A wireless router accomplishes this using wireless Wi-Fi connections.
RSS feed
A web feed is a file that contains frequently updated information, such as news headlines, blog posts, and in the case of podcasts audio and video, that is specially formatted in a way that allows it to be subscribed to using a variety of programs called feed readers or aggregators. RSS (short for Really Simple Syndication) is the most common feed format, followed by Atom. Many sites provide RSS feeds of their most recently-updated content, and a feed reader can subscribe to many feeds (thousands or even millions) at once, allowing you to view the most recent information from a variety of sources with visiting all of the originating web sites. To learn how to get started with feeds, take a look at Tucows' Reading RSS Feeds With Google Reader.
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Server
A server or host is a computer or a computer program that provides a service to other computers. When you check your email, for example, you are connecting to an email server, which serves your new messages to your email client.
Social networking
Social networking refers to a broad class of web sites and services that allow you to connect with friends, family, and colleagues online, as well as meet people with similar interests or hobbies. Many, such as the popular Facebook and MySpace, let you create a profile where you can post photos, information about yourself like location, hobbies, and relationship status, and send and receive correspondence with online contacts.
SMTP
Short for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, SMTP is the protocol most commonly used to send email messages. Often messages are passed among several SMTP relay servers before reaching their final destination.
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TCP/IP
Short for Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol,, two of the core protocols that make the internet work. TCP ensures that data is received in the order it is sent, and IP allows computers to identify eachother across the internet using IP addresses. (This definition is vastly simplified. For a much more thorough discussion of this complex topic, take a look at Wikipedia's article on the topic.)
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URL
Often called an address or web address, URL is short for Uniform Resource Locator. Uniform Resource Identifier or URI is sometime used synonymously. A URL is a unique bit of text that can direct a web browser to a specific web page. A URL has several parts: The first part, the scheme, e.g. http://, tells the browser what protocol to use (in this case, HTTP); the second part, the domain name, e.g. tucows.com, tells the browser which server to request the web page from, and the rest indicates the page to be requested and additional information to be sent to the server. You can enter URLs and see the URL of the page you're looking at in your browser's Address Bar at the top of its window. Though not always the case in practice, a particular URL should always direct the browser to the same page.
Upload
To upload something is to send it to another computer or device. For example, to put a photo on a web site, you must upload it. The speed at which you are able to send data over the internet is often called your upload speed, and is usually measured in bits or bytes per second.
User
A user is simply a person who uses something, such as a program or a web site. If you use Microsoft Office, you are an "Office user"; if you use Gmail, you are a "Gmail user." See also username.
Username
Also called a login name, screen name, or login (and sometimes written as two words: user name), a username is a unique name used to identify a user. A username is typically used along with a password for logging in to web sites. Usernames are often used as pseudonyms for online communication.
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Web 2.0
Web 2.0 refers to a large set of ideas and techniques behind many new web sites and services which encourage user interaction, communication, and collaboration. For more information on Web 2.0, take a look at Wikipedia's article on the topic.
Web browser
A web browser is a computer program that someone uses to access web sites. You're probably using a web browser to read this article. Popular web browsers include Internet Explorer, which comes free with Microsoft Windows, Safari, which comes free on Apple computers, Mozilla Firefox, and Opera which are both freely available for almost all computers.
Web page
A single document on a web site is called a web page (sometimes shortened to webpage or just page). This article, for example, is a web page on the Tucows web site. Most web pages are rendered using HTML.
Web site
Sometimes shortened to website or simply site, web site usually refers to a collection of web pages on the World Wide Web under a single domain name. Tucows (the site where this article lives) is a web site, for instance, consisting of many web pages.
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi, sometimes written without the hyphen (WiFi), is a common technology for networking computers without wires, i.e. wirelessly. The term Wi-Fi is actually a brand name for a set of standards known as IEEE 802.11. The latter is usually followed by a letter such as a, b, g, or n, to indicate which version of the standard a device supports; "higher" letters have increased speed, additional features, or both. Most new laptop computers and many other portable devices have built-in Wi-Fi support, allowing their owners to connect to the internet or a LAN as long as they are within range of a wireless signal or "hotspot."
Wiki
A wiki is a type of web site that allows users to easily create, edit, and organize web pages. Many wikis allow anyone to create and edit any page, often anonymously. A wiki keeps a record of every revision made to every page, so if a page is vandalized by an anonymous user it can quickly be reverted back to its previous state. Wikipedia, "The Free Encyclopedia," is the world's largest and most popular wiki, having millions of pages on almost every topic, in several languages. Most of the web's hundreds of wikis are smaller, however, and have a narrower subject matter, e.g. travel, Star Wars, or Java programming. The word wiki is derived from the Hawaiian word wikiwiki, which means quick, and is pronounced "wicky" or "weeky," depending on who you ask.
World Wide Web
Frequently shortened to just the web or WWW, the World Wide Web refers to the billions of web sites that are hosted on servers all over the world and are accessible via web browsers all over the world and which a "web" by the billions of web pages that link to one another. The World Wide Web is often erroneously referred to as the internet, but it is in fact only one of the internet's many parts.

Meet the man behind NSE's success

If the Indian stockmarkets have become a cheaper, safer and more transparent place to invest in, undoubtedly much credit would go to NSE and its founder R.H. Patil. NSE would have been a mere pipedream had it not been for Patil's out-of-the-box vision and perseverance

The financial services industry hosts all kinds of people - but the pervasive traits are often aggression, pride and massive egos. In this milieu, the self-effacing R.H. Patil is a refreshing change. In a town where most operatives play the 'I-am-more-powerful-than-you game', he not only has a smile for you, but also the time and patience to answer your questions, however banal they may be.

In fact, as C.B. Bhave, chairman and managing director, National Security Depository, put it, Patil looks very unlike a man who has accomplished so much.

Patil, a deserving entrant in the Outlook Money Hall of Fame, left IDBI as its executive director to set up the National Stock Exchange (NSE), an institution that was predicted to fail even before it was established.

He reminisces: "People dubbed me stupid for having given up my senior position in IDBI to start a non-entity. With an established exchange, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), being there, nobody gave NSE a chance of success. When people asked me why I was taking such a big risk, I simply said the idea fascinated me."

"I was always confident that NSE would be successful. People would ask me when NSE will surpass BSE, but they would ask it in a manner of scorn. I would say it will take at least five years. But to everybody's shock, it took only one year.

"In fact, after two years of starting NSE, a leading business magazine asked me to write about where NSE would be in the next five years for their annual issue. I said NSE will command at least 80 per cent of the volume. The editor deleted the statement. I saw it when the magazine came out and it was too late to do anything. Today, NSE is close to 95 per cent of the total turnover of the equity markets."

It is telling on Patil's personality that he seems surprised by NSE's success. "It was only when other people started commenting on how we had done a good job and how all our decisions on ownership, management, operations and technology were right that I realised it was a success," he says.

Patil and his team that set up NSE looked at decisions from two points of view. One was to study BSE and understand what they did wrong and to correct it. The other was that there was an opportunity to start from scratch and do something different. "Since I had an opportunity to create a new thing, I looked at what was the most desirable thing - why not bring the best of the things that will help the market. We looked at the existing exchange and thought, let's look at its deficiencies and correct them. The first major deficiency was that brokers owned and ran the exchange. It was unjust to small brokers and investors.

"We said if we have to set up an exchange, it has to be for the whole country. That's why we set up the satellite communication model. We can go to any place and set up a terminal in three days. The second aspect was that brokers should not have any room in the exchange - neither ownership room nor management room. We gave ownership of the exchange to institutions, management to professionals and trading operations to brokers."

Things, of course, weren't as simple as Patil makes it sound. Many powerful groups were upset by NSE's way of doing things. In fact, the founding team even had the underworld close on its heels at one point. Patil laughs as he remembers: "At that time, the underworld was also investing in the market, not directly, but through brokers. In the first couple of years, before depositories became a reality, printed fake securities used to be delivered. They were so well made that you could not tell the original from the fake. It got a bit scary when we discovered who was behind this. Our security advisor D.S. Soman, the then director-general of police, took care of it, but there was a lot of fear."

Today, Patil feels happy when the systems and technology of NSE are praised all over the world. Our exchanges are one of the safest in the world now. However, with financial institutions and foreign investors firmly in control, to a large extent, he feels the purpose of NSE is lost. "Exchanges must be for the retail investor, the little fellow. While there will be some speculation, these (current) levels of speculative foreign funds in our market have scared the retail investor. I looked at the exchange as social infrastructure, that purpose is distorted now," he says.

He is that rare breed of people who did not shift to multi-national companies and multi-million dollar salaries, but stayed on for the cause of nation-building. "Money is necessary for a comfortable life, but beyond that I have no use for it," he says.

But didn't he aspire for personal glory? "No, I am happy being a non-entity," he smiles. Patil is not just a simple man with big accomplishments, but one who has remained honest and humble, even at a time when these traits are not fashionable.

Institution building

Was instrumental in establishing the NSE, which conformed to the best international standards and instituted innovations, some of them global firsts

Instrumental in setting up of National Securities Depository, the largest depository in the country, which busted the bulk of the fake share rackets

Was involved in setting up of National Securities Clearing Corporation, the first central counterpart institution in India to ensure guaranteed settlement of all equity and equity derivative transactions

The Founder-Chairman of The Clearing Corporation of India, the world's only central counterparty for settlement of inter-bank forex transactions

How NSE changed the capital markets

Online trading eventually brought down transaction costs from 2 per cent of trade to 0.2 per cent
Rolling settlement system makes process quicker than that even in developed markets
Settlement guarantee makes transactions more secure
Derivative trading provides new risk management tools
CNX Nifty is a more representative indicator of markets

The Representatives Of Five Banks Set Global Price After ‘Buy’ & ‘Sell’ Calls

For these London bankers, gold price fixing is a ritual since 1919

WHEN gold reached dizzying heights above $800 an ounce in recent weeks, it cast a spotlight on a ritual that has taken place in London for the past 88 years.
Twice a day, representatives of five banks pick up the phone to trade physical gold and arrive at the London “fixing” price, which then becomes a benchmark for gold around the world.

As the clock in the vast Barclays Capital trading room in London ticks towards 3 pm, attention turns to Marc Booker, the bank’s head of spot gold trading.
Booker joins a conference call with the four other banks who take part in the fixing. The chairman, from Deutsche Bank, suggests an opening price and Booker relays it to his trading room and customers. Booker and the other participants say whether they are buyers or sellers at that price, and the chairman adjusts the price until the buyers and sellers are in balance.

It usually takes between five and 15 minutes to fix the price, longer when the market is volatile.

“The mechanism is efficient and it is a benchmark which has continued to function through all types of market stress,” Martyn Whitehead, director of commodity sales at Barclays Capital, said as Booker traded.

The fixing price has gained greater significance as gold prices have jumped more than 30% in 3 months and doubled in 3 years, with a wider audience becoming interested in the price and the volume of spot gold trading has jumped.
It reflects the price of gold in the wider spot market and is used around the world by producers, investors and central banks as a benchmark for pricing a variety of transactions. Refiners use the fix to settle their contracts.

When fixing started on September 12, 1919, the first price was $20.67 an ounce. The highest fixing of the recent gold rally was on November 7, when it fixed at $841.75 an ounce in the morning session, less than $10 below its historic high of $850, fixed on January 21, 1980.

In addition to Barclays and Deutsche Bank, the other banks who take part in the fixing are HSBC Bank, Societe Generale and Bank of Nova Scotia’s bullion division, Scotia Mocatta.

Until about three years ago, the gold fixings took place at the premises of NM Rothschild and Sons, with each bank sending a representative who would remain in contact with his dealing room by telephone. When Rothschild moved out of the commodities business, it was replaced at the fixing by Barclays.

In those days, each representative had a small British flag that they raised after receiving any change from their dealing room. As long as any flag was raised, the chairman could not declare the price as fixed. Now they say “flag up” or “flag down” depending on whether they agree to the fixing price.

London developed as a gold centre in the second half of the 19th Century, when it became the point through which gold from the mines of California, South Africa and Australia was refined and sold.

Its history as a hub for trading in gold bullion goes back even further, to the formation of the oldest original member of the market, Mocatta and Goldsmid, in 1684.
These days, investment funds are taking keen interest in physical gold, with about $13 billion in trades passing through London’s clearing system each day. To avoid cost and security risks, bullion is not usually physically moved and deals are cleared through paper transfers.

On November 7, the same day the gold fixing price reached its recent high, spot gold hit a 28-year high of $845.40, less than $5 away from its record high of $850, spurred by a lifetime low dollar and historic high oil.

During the recent rally, jewellers and other gold users stayed on the sideline, watching the bull run, while individuals around the world sold old ornaments and gold bars to take advantage of high prices.

Small investors were looking at coins and bars, not wishing to miss the bus.
The wider media coverage of high prices also attracted investments into exchange traded funds (ETFs), which allow people to buy the metal on a stock exchange without taking physical delivery of the metal.

Gold held in US-listed StreetTRACKS Gold Shares, the world’s largest gold-backed ETF, rose to a record high of 599.50 tonne in early November.
“We continue to see a huge amount of retail inflows. They are not generally the first to the party and they are generally not the first to leave either,” said Stuart Thomas, MD of World Gold Services, sponsor of StreetTRACKS. — Reuters

ALL IN A DAY
Gold fixing mechanism begun wayback in Sept 12, 1919
The system has gained greater significance as gold prices have jumped more than 30% in 3 months and doubled in 3 years On day 1, the first fixing price was $20.67 an ounce and the historic high of $850 was fixed on January 21, 1980 Twice a day, representatives of five banks pick up the phone to trade physical gold and arrive at the London 'fixing' price, which then becomes a benchmark for gold around the world
It usually takes between 5 and 15 minutes to fix the price, longer when the market is volatile

Allow foreign law firms in India?

LEGAL profession in India is skewed. While lawyers in the top bracket are becoming increasingly wealthy even by international standards, a vast majority are struggling to make both ends meet despite being otherwise competent. Entry of foreign law firms is bound to increase the disparity.

Lawyers are officers of the court and empowering them at the grass root level will only strengthen the judiciary. Before allowing entry of foreign law firms, the Bar Council must ensure inclusive growth of lawyers. The concept of equitable distribution of briefs and social security amongst junior members of the bar merit consideration. Besides, every judicial officer, numbering around 15,000, should be assisted by junior lawyers and expenses thereof must be defrayed by the government through budgetary allocations. This measure would have twin objectives of easing the burden on judicial officers and utilising lawyers effectively. India has about a million trained lawyers, whose competence is unquestionable. It is a pity that a majority of them remain under-utilised.

If foreign law firms are allowed to operate from India, it would not be feasible to monitor whether they advice clients on Indian laws or foreign laws. They are likely to operate in full swing even on an advisory capacity with or without Indian partners. Besides, in terms of Sections-2 (j) and 5 of FEMA, 1999, remittance for availing of legal services falls within current account transactions and can be freely effected in convertible foreign exchange. Today the issue of legal/regulatory compliance and avoiding litigation is a major concern for multinationals operating in India. Foreign law firms are likely to garner a major slice of such legal services. Smaller law firms may prefer to merge with foreign law firms and only the major few Indian law firms would survive. This all the more underscores the need to protect the interest of our lawyers and law firms.

However, lawyers in India must recognise that in an era of globalisation, opening up of legal services is inevitable. Before this happens, India must ensure inclusive growth of lawyers and insist on reciprocity instead of yielding tamely under international pressure.



S SUNDARESAN
Partner J Sagar Associates They are already thriving in Indian market
IN THIS day and age, one does not need to physically set up shop in a geographical market location. Foreign law firms are already thriving in the Indian market — either through arrangements for referral, talent-sharing and joint marketing efforts, or purely by servicing the Indian practice from outside India. Foreign law firms do not just handle in-bound and out-bound investments and write securities offering documents. To provide their services, they extensively recruit lawyers trained only in Indian law — not just fresh recruits from campus, but also partners with equity stakes in Indian firms.

The entry of foreign competition has led to even mom-and-pop shops reinventing themselves in their approach to life. However, the Indian law practitioners are saddled with retrograde laws that govern them in areas such as advertising, promotion, marketing and pricing. Antiquated British-era laws prohibit Indian firms from having more than 20 partners. They are also forced to have unlimited liability. Having a website listing the lawyers in the firm and the work they do, is banned.


Yet, there is already robust competition between Indian and foreign law firms, even on practice of Indian law. When Indian firms outperform the foreign-firm-backed Indian outfits, history does not validate it as an international success, because there is no official clarity on what constitutes practice of Indian law. The extensive recruitment of practitioners exclusively trained in Indian law sit on “India desks” of global firms. Their pay packets are way above Indian standards, and yet, reflect an Asian discount. Mediocrity in Indian legal talent has never had it better.

This is not a protectionist line. Competition is welcome with concomitant introduction of long-overdue reforms for the practice. If the government intends to permit a physical presence in India for practice of foreign law, it would equally have to build in precision around what constitutes practice of foreign law. The irony lies in no one expecting the law governing lawyers to contain precision any better than any Indian law.
(Views are personal)

SC questions banks’ loan recovery methods

Reserves Order On ICICI’s Plea Against HC Remarks


THE Supreme Court on Tuesday questioned the modus operandi of banks employing musclemen for recovery of loans. The apex court made strong observations against the practice of employing goons for recovery, reserving its verdict on an appeal of ICICI bank.

The bank has approached the apex court seeking removal of certain observations by the Delhi High Court made in its judgement while deciding the case of the defaulter who allegedly committed suicide due to the harassment of the agents employed by the bank for recovery of loan.

A bench comprising Justice Tarun Chatterjee and Justice Dalveer Bhandari said: “Under what provision of law, the physical possession of vehicle in case of default in payment of loan amount is permissible. Will the terms of contract override the statutory laws which prohibits coercion?... Does the provisions of statutory laws like IPC and CrPC allows repossession of vehicles for default in payment?”

Even if it is assumed that the terms of contract enable the lender bank to take the physical possession of vehicle for default in payment, how the possession is taken is the determining factor, Justice Bhandari said speaking on behalf of the bench.

Senior Counsel UU Lalit appearing on behalf of ICICI bank tried to impress the court that bank was empowered to take the physical possession of vehicle on account of default in payment under the term of contract entered into between lender and borrower.

However, advocate BB Singh on behalf of the Delhi government said that the contractual obligation could not override the statutory laws.

Relying on an apex court judgement, Mr Singh said that the banks can not employ “goondas” for recovery of loans. The apex court in a case relating to use of musclemen by the ICICI bank had strongly frowned upon such a practice, said Mr Singh.

The High Court had observed, “the modus-operandi employed by the banks like ICICI for realisation of their loan amount and for recovering the possession of the vehicle against which loans are given is extra legal and by no stretch of imagination they can be permitted to employ musclemen and goons for recovery of their dues even from the defaulting party. Everybody has a right to live with dignity and that right can not be taken away except without due process of law.”


The High Court passed the observations on a petition filed by Shanti Devi Sharma whose son Himanshu Sharma allegedly committed suicide in October 2005 because of the harassment caused by goons sent by ICICI Bank.

Former staff can continue to use official email ids

21 Nov, 2007, 0142 hrs IST,Omkar Sapre, TNN

ORGANISATIONS believe they have simplified working by issuing official email ids to their employees. These are naturally de-activated on the employee leaving the organisation. Hold it, though. There is a vulnerability here: Employees who have quit the company can still use these official email ids to send email, even after their names have been de-activated from company servers.

This is how it happens. A utility tool in free email id providers like Gmail, Yahoomail, Rediffmail, Hotmail etc (for convenience’ sake, let’s call them Freemail) allows a user to add on his other email ids, like his official email id (for example @timesgroup.com). It fetches all his email from added-on ids and allows him to send email from this freemail portal, with the addedon email id in the ‘from’ column. This was done for user convenience, providing that user a single email id window to access email from multiple ids.

But a potentially malicious flaw in this tool, which even big companies like Google, Yahoo etc seem to have overlooked is that the freemail inbox continues to keep the added-on email id even after it is deactivated.

For example, Gaurav (name changed), who works for a software company called H-Soft, has an official email id, gaurav@hsoft.com. He can add this email id on to his Freemail inbox and access his official mail via the freemail portal. When Gaurav quit H-Soft, his email id was deactivated from the company server, meaning that any email sent to gaurav@h-soft.com bounced back to the sender with a message saying that this email id does not exist. But this particular email id continued to exist in Gaurav’s freemail inbox.

Though the utility tool will no longer be able to fetch email from the H-soft email id, Gaurav will be able to send email from this id. This can allow him to pose as if he still works with the company. Any replies to such an email from Gaurav will be received on his freemail id, thanks to the ‘specify a different replyto address’ feature of this utility.

The user, who noticed this flaw, requesting anonymity, said, “I use the tool because it allows me to send and read emails from a single window without having to login into all my email service providers. I had also added my official id, but last month, I changed jobs and the official email id of my former company was deactivated. I was shocked to find that though I cannot read emails sent to that id using freemail, (they will now bounce back), I can continue using that email id. This could be put to malicious use. Freemail service providers should develop another tool that will at least authenticate the added-on email id at regular intervals.”

Second, the tool also does not consider the ignorant nature of most email users, who click on links or reply to emails without confirming what they are. A classic example is the case of a 33-year-old sofware engineer of Indian-origin in the US who recieved an email purportedly from his bank in Pune asking for his bank account details. He replied and Rs 5 lakh went missing from his account.


Email questionnaires to Google, Yahoo and Rediff remained unanswered. An ethical hacker working in an IT security company who tested this utility in four popular email providers, said that this issue cannot be termed as vulnerability, though it does throw up concerns. “Most companies use email client softwares like Outlook, where it shows up in the `from’ column that the particular email was sent from the free email id on behalf of the official id,” the ethical hacker said, on condition of anonymity. He accepted that even these softwares do not show whether the official id, on behalf of which the email was sent, actually exists or not.

HR Professionals

WHAT do you think is an essential activity for the HR department in an organisation? Is it recruiting new folks? Or is it the all important task of doling out salaries? All correct, but it’s amazing how this two-syllable acronym can only conjure up these tasks as most crucial, when it is only the tip of the ‘HR iceberg’.
The India growth story is known, with the economy growing rapidly and the IT/ITeS industries in particular sporting double-digit growth. The impact of this on employees is also not unfamiliar to anyone who has ever had to manage a team — the people challenges are coming fast and furious. Bearing this in mind, one look at the supply side — that of capable, people managers or qualified HR professionals — reveals that it is regrettably insufficient.
Here are some statistics – the number of HR professionals graduating from various institutions every year is just 2% of the entire postgraduate population. Despite HR being offered as a specialisation in most B- schools, students opting for specialisation in this area are very few. Also it is only a handful of institutes that offer exclusive courses in HR - TISS, XLRI and SCMHRD being the oldest and therefore most popular. According to a TISS report, these three institutes produce around 200 professionals each year.
A glimpse at employment data reveals that
some sectors in the country are expected to employ about 2 million people by 2010 — in other words, two times the number of people they employ today. The forecast predicts approximately 3, 00,000 employees joining the software and services sectors in 2007 alone. According to industry estimates, for every 75-100 employees in an organisation, there is a need for one HR professional. Putting two and two together, the approximate demand for people skilled in the HR area for the tech sector alone in the next three years will be 40,000!
So how do we cope with this mounting shortfall? There are two options before us — hire candidates from other academic backgrounds or induct other business managers from within the firm into the HR function. Viable as this option may seem, given that these candidates already demonstrate business acumen and other managerial requisites, it is still a questionable decision primarily for two reasons. One being lack of sophistication of HR processes and systems. HR systems and process in India are still nascent and require significant innovation, creativity and time. Neither of which someone inexperienced in the field, or with other business concerns, can commit to. The second issue is lack of skill in handling people-related issues. While the young workforce of today — the managers of a not so distant tomorrow — is bright and ready to take on additional responsibilities, they’re still like uncut diamonds when it comes to handling people matters – people- management skills need to be honed.
So, what makes a good HR professional? Says MR Mathew Cherian CEO HelpAge India, “In a not-forprofit organisation like HelpAge employees are our only asset, and the ability to attract and retain them is the key driver of our success, the role of HR becomes very crucial in this success as they should have the right understanding of the organisations’ requirements.”
The business need for HR talent is greater than ever, but Hewitt research suggests that not enough HR professionals have what it takes to meet the challenge. We conducted a survey with over 50 CEOs and business leaders in the Asia Pacific region to find out what business really wants from HR and how HR can efficiently contribute to business. 56% of business leaders’ responses suggested ‘lack of business acumen’ as a reason for their worst experience with HR folks.
Business leaders attribute this to the inability of the contemporary HR curriculum, both professional and academic, to equip HR professionals with the requisite business management capabilities.
Summing up, the biggest challenge for India Inc lies in addressing the issue of shortage of skilled people managers, either by enhancing skills of aspiring HR professionals or training both business managers and existing HR professionals.
Where do we go from here? Romi Malholtra, former MD of Dell India, says unless HR professionals cope up with change, they face the threat of obsolescence. The obvious option seems to be improving HR curriculum at institutes, but this hardly addresses the pressing need. So let’s look at training existing professionals as an option. While there is a need for people mangers today, there is no real dearth of them. It’s not about a large-scale revolution to squelch the need, but to further enhance capabilities of those who are qualified and committed to the cause – the HR fraternity itself. Adopting a capability oriented view of HR and equipping HR professionals with relevant business skills will go a long way in preparing them for managing the business needs of the future.
It is our belief at Hewitt that this is one infallible strategy of addressing the issue, at the very least one that is worth trying out!
(Ajay Soni is Business Leader, India & Sharmistha Patnaik is the Head at Hewitt Academy for Strategic HR, India.)

Get on the pick-up truck ...TONIGHT!

Do you keep going out hoping you will return with some arm candy? Here’s how to strike the right chord


TOUCH HER, THEN STOP

Not sure if she's interested? If you've made it to the second round, initiate contact by touching her arm several times during the time you spend talking. Then abruptly stop all physical contact. If she's attracted to you, she'll be the one firing the strokes your way as soon as she realises you've stopped being 'touchy'. Touch is a very important part of courtship. Don't mistake accidental touches to be 'signs' and go further or you will go home with a black eye.

DELIVER THE COMPLIMENTS

“You're beautiful” isn't a compliment. Neither are those lines you picked up on the semi-porn site! Compliment her on what she's made, not on what God's made. Try: "Lovely dress", 'Terrific report", 'Incredible insight", 'Great joke". Don't overdo it though. Every compliment after the first one takes away some charm.

BRING A FAKE DATE

If you have a great-looking female friend, by all means show her off. There are few things more attractive to a woman than the fact that other women are attracted to you. In a study, when people were asked to judge men based on photographs of them with 'spouses' of differing attractiveness, unattractive men paired with good-looking women were routinely rated most favourably in terms of status.

FIND WOMEN WITH JOBS

To locate a high proportion of goodlooking (if somewhat bitter and humourless) women, eat, drink in the area surrounding the High Court or a BPO or even a mall! Law offices and youth-loving companies harbour a number of females (read PYTs) and all of them eat. Runner-up: hospital cafeterias. (Nurses. Lots of nurses.)

GUESS HER AGE

Asking her age has well been one of the most impolite, not-to-do things while hunting for a date, but playing around with the topic isn't. Start joking about her age and her marital status, to give out signals that you are interested. And be prepared for her lies. Age and age-related conversations have gone a long way in the past, with many date-hunting bachelors.

INDI LITERATURE LITTLE MAGAZINES

etween the PAGES

THE GAP IN HINDI LITERATURE THAT AROSE AFTER THE CLOSURE OF MAGAZINES LIKE DHARAMYUG AND SARIKA HAS BEEN ABLY FILLED BY LITTLE MAGAZINES WHOSE NUMBERS ARE ALMOST ONE THOUSAND NOW

WHAT is the ‘little magazine’ movement? There can be many answers to this question but a vital consensus can be drawn from the fact that little magazines are the alternative arena of creativity, voice and rebellious ideology. They are struggling for literary renaissance in a time when commercialism is gnawing all the sensibility and austerity of our life.

Hindi is the language of almost 60 crore people. Unfortunately, there is not a single magazine in the mainstream which could be called purely literary and provide an intellectual content of literary variety. Sapthahik Hindustan, Dharmyug and Sarika were some important magazines that were avidly read by the middle class. Its literary tastes was also shaped and enhanced by these magazines. With the closure of such magazines, a vacuum descended on the Hindi literati. This abyss of absence was thankfully and ably filled by little magazines whose numbers are almost one thousand now. There are many like Tadbhav, Hans, Samyantar, Pahal Kathadesh, Alochana, Pal-Pratipal, Naya Gyanodaya, Samkaleen Janmatand Udbhavanawhich are vehicles of serious literature and ideas in a rapidly changing time in which idealism and the pursuit of truth is consciously crippled by the mainstream media. Enthusiasm and literary-ideological motivation is the capital of the editors of such magazines. One can note the fact that all the big writers like Uday Prakash, Prabha Khetan and Maitraye Pushpa among others were first published by these magazines before being picked up by multi-edition newspapers.

Little magazines are also the true mirrors of society and their interventionist role can hardly be ignored. Most of them are anti-establishment, secular, experimental, progressive and pro-oppressed. The editor of Hans has openly declared that defying conventional norms on life, sex, language and society is the guiding principle of his magazine. In fact, in a recent interview he also said: “We are bold to the limit of obscenity and radical to the extent of a naxalite.” With a print run of 15,000 Hans is still at the top of the heap.

If in Maharastra Dalit literature was published and made known to world by little magazines, it happened in Hindi too. All the well known Dalit writers like Om prakash Valmiki, Sheoraj Singh Bechan and Mohandas Nemisrai wrote their stories and novels for magazines like Hans. So, despite their shoestring budgets and infrastructure constraints little magazines have immensely contributed to Hindi literature. Contextual value of serious issues were keenly identified by them. The most recent instance of such a sensitive gripping is the splurge of writings on the 1857 rebellion which completed its 150th anniversary this year. Mainstream magazines did not discuss the historical significance of the 1857 but many little magazines like Samyantar, Udbhavana, Janmat, Vartman Sahitya, Naya Pathetc., brought out special issues on the subject and analysed the epochmaking uprising. They remembered the rebellion not as a cold historical fact but as an inspiration to launch an antiimperialist war against the new global hegemony. Apart from special issues several magazines published thoughprovoking special articles on 1857. So, they generated an atmosphere in which all the socially aware writers and readers engaged in a discussion. Seasoned historians, creative writers, journalists and academicians too contributed and a gamut of literature on the uprising resurfaced.

Thus little magazines are very grand in their perspective and big in their roles. German philosopher Jurgen Habermas had once propounded the possibility of a public sphere where all intellectual minds meet to talk freely on issues of societal interest and democratic dissent against the dominating power of state. In the process, communicative rationality is conveyed and rational speech is made possible against all violence of prejudiced judgments. Little magazines too help in constructing a public sphere which blurs the dividing line of narrative and experience and open a full new world of expression before its readers. Almost all small towns of north India have at least one Hindi magazine. Most of them print 500 to 1,000 copies. Even if all that is published in these magazines may not be of a satisfactory standard, the magazines do allow the space to express the subconscious world of local writers. They publish literature of all genres and forms. They discuss issues related to literature, civil liberty and those with leftist viewpoints. Most of them have a web presence too.

Varied and diverse, some of these magazines have a life due to the sheer independent efforts while some others are supported by political organizations and government institutions. Ironically, there are a few that have devious interests like massaging the interests of certain coteries and settling scores with rivals. Samkaleen Janmat, published from Patna, has always been held in high esteem because of its role of a selfless crusader. It provides radical and intellectual content not only on literature but also about the state’s connivance with MNC capital to crush the voice of the people.

Naturally, difficulties are not strange to them. The first and foremost of which is that of raising funds. This is partly tackled by the membership campaign and collection of advertisements. Pankaj Bisht, editor of Samyantar, says that the Hindi belt is very large, spread into seven states. Creating a distribution network is a major problem. Except for monthly magazines all other quarterly or bi-monthly magazines do not get concessions in postal delivery. If the price of a magazine is Rs 25 then it has to spend about Rs 10 on postage. The government advertising agency, DAVP, too ignore magazines that are not monthly. Government-affiliated literary academies seldom provide any financial help. Neither do they have any plan to promote little magazines.

So how can this challenge be confronted? Says Bisht: “There are two ways out of this problem. First, the people associated with these magazines should sit down and chalk out a strategy to organise the distribution. Then we can also establish an organisation that will take up the task of sending magazines to every nook and corner of all Hindi states. Besides, we can also exert pressure on the government to assign the responsibility of distribution to its literary academies.”

Another serious problem being faced by little magazines is the diminishing space and respect for Hindi in the middle class world. Earlier, Hindi had a pan-India appeal like other languages. But globalisation has changed the fate of several things, Hindi being one of them, suffering the powerful assault of English, the language of power. Despite this linguistic challenge, editors and readers of such magazines are unanimously defending their cause and spirit. They are the voice of sanity in our time and make it a point that creativity should be free-flowing and unbound. From cover to cover.

Exchange-traded Re futures soon

RBI May Step On Sebi’s Turf In Regulating Trade
Our Bureau MUMBAI

INDIANS may soon be allowed to participate in exchange-traded currency futures — instruments that allow them to take positions on the future value of the rupee. The Reserve Bank on Friday released a report by an internal panel which has recommended the introduction of currency futures to be traded on dedicated exchanges. The recommendations could spark off a turf war as it proposes that RBI will retain the right to regulate all aspects of trade even though securities exchanges are the domain of capital market regulator Sebi.

A currency futures contract is one where two parties agree to buy and sell the currency at a future date at a pre-determined price. Exchange-traded currency futures are seen as a stepping stone towards capital account convertibility as they allow individuals to hedge against foreign currency risks.

The futures market is sought out primarily by people seeking information on price, speculators and hedgers. The RBI panel has recognised that the requirement of an underlying exposure to trade in a foreign exchange market is difficult to implement. The panel has recommended that no quantitative restrictions may be imposed on residents intending to trade in currency futures, so that there is greater liquidity and wider participation.

For those who have a currency exposure but not access to hedging tools like forwards and options, exchange-traded currency futures will be hugely beneficial. The rupee, which has risen from 44.25 levels to 39.30 levels in a span of six months, has proven to be nightmarish for several sections of the market. Individuals are also exposed to foreign currency risks with RBI allowing individuals to invest up to $1,00,000 abroad in a year. Sebi caps index fund fees, okays borrowing of shares SEBI HAS put a cap on the fees charged by fund houses for managing index schemes and exchangetraded schemes. It has a put a limit on the annual expense at 1.5% of assets under management. Sebi has also said mutual funds can engage in short selling, lending and borrowing of securities. RBI fixes currency futures contract size at $1,000

HOWEVER, there could now be some respite from the appreciating local currency, given that Indians may now be able to hedge their dollar positions. Non-resident Indians (NRIs) and foreign institutional investors (FIIs) could use currency futures only for hedging purposes and not for speculative reasons.

For starters, the panel has recommended that the futures contract be denominated only in the US dollar-rupee terms, with a view to provide market participants with an additional hedging tool. For non-residents, the panel is of the opinion that participation be permitted over a period of time.

The group has suggested that NRIs and FIIs be allowed to participate for hedging purposes, once the robustness of various systems such as surveillance, monitoring, reporting etc. are ascertained. However, the group has called for suitable position limits to be prescribed for such entities.

The central bank has fixed the size of a contract at $1,000 with a tenor of up to 12 months, with a view to allow for price discovery and trading. As far as settlement of contracts are concerned, the RBI panel has said that at least during the initial phase, the transactions should be settled in terms of cash and this would be based upon the spot reference rate declared by RBI.
However, the panel recommended that even though the introduction of currency futures could involve the role of different exchanges, which would be regulated by Sebi, the central bank should continue to act as the regulator. The panel also calls for RBI to have the right to specify participants or even fix position limits for them. The RBI panel has suggested that to ensure a clean regulatory and supervisory structure, it is preferable to have an exchange, which is exclusively dedicated to trading in currency futures. The panel has suggested that existing exchanges which meet the eligibility criteria could take up the initiative to set up such exchanges.

The panel has mooted the idea of allowing banks to function as direct members of the exchanges, while brokers meeting the eligibility norms may also be permitted to act as intermediaries. In a bid to prevent unhealthy competition amongst exchanges, the panel has recommended that in the initial phase, the futures contract must take the form of a standardised product across various exchanges. This would help have a uniform contract size, settlement dates, procedures and tenors of the contracts.

Should You Stay or Should You Go?

FOUR QUESTIONS TO HELP YOU DECIDE IF YOU’RE READY FOR A NEW JOB

WHAT CRITERIA SHOULD
be used to determine if you have been with the same company too long? The question reminds us of a friend of ours, an investment manager at a highly regarded company in the Midwest, who drove to work one morning, parked his car in the usual spot, and then found he simply could not bring himself to get out of the car. “I guess I stayed on the farm one day too long,” he joked later. When we asked him what went wrong, he answered, “It wasn’t one thing. It was everything.” No wonder he drove home and called in his resignation.

Obviously, most people don’t decide they’ve overstayed at their companies in such a dramatic fashion. Usually, angst about work creeps in, and then builds until it consumes you. And that can happen early or late in a career. Gone are the days when, after graduation, you took the best available job and stayed for as many years as you could possibly stand, frustration be damned. These days, it is not unusual to hear of perfectly legitimate careers built on multiple job stints.

How can you tell when it’s time to move on? We wouldn’t set out specific criteria as much as offer four questions to help sort out an answer.
The first is so simple it almost goes without saying, but the fact that a lot of people don’t confront it, including our friend who ended up stuck in his car — a Harvard MBA, by the way — suggests we should go ahead and put it out there: Do you want to go to work every morning?

This is not a matter to be over-brained. Does the prospect of going in each day excite you or fill you with dread? Does the work feel interesting and meaningful or are you just going through motions to pull a paycheque? Are you still learning and growing?

We know of a woman who worked in consulting for seven years. She loved her firm and had originally planned a career with it, but suddenly started noticing that she wished every weekend was five days long. “Basically, I felt like we were putting together massive books in order to make recommendations to people who knew more than we did,” she said. “Every day at the office, I felt a little bit more of a hypocrite.” She now happily works on the “front lines,” to use her phrase, in the marketing department of a retail company.

Second, do you enjoy spending time with your coworkers or do they generally bug the living daylights out of you? We’re not saying you should only stay at your company if you want to barbecue with your team every weekend, but if you don’t sincerely enjoy and respect the people you spend ten hours a day
with, you can be sure you will eventually decide to leave your organisation. Why not make the break sooner rather than later and start cultivating relationships at a company where you might actually plant roots?

Third, does your company help you fulfil your personal mission? Essentially, this question asks whether your company jibes with your life’s goals and values. Does it require you, for instance, to travel more than you’d like, given your chosen work-life balance? Does it offer enough upward mobility, given your level of ambition? There are no right or wrong answers to such questions, only a sense of whether you are investing your time at the right or wrong company for you.

Fourth and finally, can you picture yourself at your company in a year? We use that time frame because that’s how long it usually takes to find a new, better job once you decide to move on. So peer, as best you can, into the future, and predict where you’ll be in the organisation, what work you’ll be doing, whom you will be managing, and who will be managing you. If that scenario strikes you with anything short of excitement, then you’re spinning your wheels. Or put another way, you’re just about to stay too long.

To be clear: We’re not suggesting people quit at the first inkling of discontent. No matter where you work, at some point you will have to endure difficult times, and even a deadly dull assignment, to survive a crisis or move up. But it makes little sense to stay and stay at a company because of inertia. Unlock your door and get out.

Lifetime Experience

IN BOTH THE GREAT epics of India, Ramayan and Mahabharata, war ends not with celebration of victory but with transmission of knowledge. In the Ramayan, Ravan lies mortally wounded on the battlefield and the monkeys are celebrating their victory, when Ram turns to his brother, Lakshman, and says, “While Ravan was a brute, he was also a great scholar. Go to him quickly and request him to share whatever knowledge he can.”

The obedient Lakshman rushes to Ravan’s side and whispers in his ears, “Demonking, all your life you have taken not given. Now the noble Ram gives you an opportunity to mend your ways. Share your vast wisdom. Do not let it die with you. For that you will be surely be blessed.”

Ravan responds by simply turning away. An angry Lakshman goes back to Ram and says: “He is as arrogant as he always was, too proud to share anything.” Ram looks at his brother and asks him softly, “Where did you stand while asking him for knowledge?” “Next to his head so that I hear what he had to say clearly.” Ram smiles, places his bow on the ground and walks to where Ravan lies. Lakshman watches in astonishment as his brother kneels at Ravan’s feet.

With palms joined, with extreme humility, Ram says, “Lord of Lanka, you abducted my wife, a terrible crime for which I have been forced to punish you. Now, you are no more my enemy. I see you now as you are known across the world, as the wise son of Rishi Vishrava. I bow to you and request you to share your wisdom with me. Please do that for if you die without doing so, all your wisdom will be lost forever to the world.”

To Lakshman’s surprise, Ravan opens his eyes and raises his arms to salute Ram, “If only I had more time as your teacher than as your enemy. Standing at my feet as a student should, unlike your rude younger brother, you are a worthy recipient of my knowledge. I have very little time so I cannot share much but let me tell you one important lesson I have learnt in my life. Things that are bad for you seduce you easily; you run towards them impatiently. But things are actually good for you fail to attract you; you shun them creatively, finding powerful excuses to justify your procrastination. That is why I was impatient to abduct Sita but avoided meeting you. This is the wisdom of my life, Ram. My last words. I give it to you.” With these words, Ravan dies.


There’s similar knowledge transmission after the Mahabharat war is over and the Kauravas are all dead. As the victorious Pandavas are about to assume control of Hastinapur, Krishna advises them to talk to Bhisma, their grand uncle, who lies mortally wounded on the battlefield. As a result of a blessing, death would elude him for some time. “Make him talk until his last breath. Ask him questions. He has a lot to tell,” says Krishna.

Sure enough, when prompted, the dying Bhisma spends hours discussing various topics: history, geography, politics, economics, management, war, ethics, morality, sex, astronomy, metaphysics and spirituality. Bhisma’s discourse is captured in the Shanti Parva (discussions of peace) and Anushasan Parva (discussions on discipline) that makes up a quarter of the Mahabharata. After listening to their grandsire, the Pandavas have a better understanding of the world, and this makes them better kings.


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Long has this knowledge drain been recognised. Over the past decade, a whole new business process known as knowledge management has evolved that seeks to harness, store, transmit this knowledge. Every CEO agrees that it is a valuable business process, that investment in it is critical. Policies have been made, people have been hired and systems have been deployed.

Unfortunately, for all the initial enthusiasm, implementation has been lacking. Unlike retrieving cash, retrieving knowledge from employees, both current and future, is not easy. Often because they are like Sahadeva.

Sahadeva was the youngest Pandava and, in the South Indian Mahabharata, he is described as an expert in many predictive sciences such as astrology, palmistry and face reading. But he is cursed: if he ever gave any information voluntarily, his head will split into a thousand pieces. That is why he is silent throughout the epic. He knows every fortune and misfortune that his family will go through, but he can never use his knowledge to forewarn anyone. When Yudhishtira finally learns of his brother’s prowess he is furious. “Why did you not tell me all that you knew?” All he gets in response is Sahadeva’s silence. Most employees in an organisation are Sahadevas.

Sahadevas are of two types: either they are unwilling to share their knowledge or they don’t have the means to do so. The former category knows that knowledge is power and will not give it away under any circumstances. The latter category is willing to share knowledge but either no one asks them for it or there is no system where they can make it available for others.

Knowledge Management is leadership driven. Only a Ram, not a Laskhman can do it. He must first believe in it. He must respect the fact that everyone in his organisation, even those who he does not particularly like, are repositories of great wisdom – not only knowledge of things that work but also knowledge of things that do not work. He must make conscious efforts to capture as much of it as possible.

The simplest method is talking to people, while they are on the job and especially when they are leaving the organisation. An exit interviews must never be a ritual. Neither must it be an exercise to just get the venom out nor an exercise to expose the underbelly that has prompted the resignation. It must be a concerted effort to gather what was the knowledge acquired between joining and leaving the organisation.


Interviews work if the organisation is mall. As the organisation grows in size one needs a more formal system, at the very least a simple archival system managed by a clerk or secretary but on a larger scale, a sophisticated knowledge repository, a kind of electronic cupboard where at least the final version of presentations, documents and spreadsheets of key business events can be stored.


This sounds very logical but most organisations do not do this. The effort involved is huge and the rewards are neither immediate nor tangible. A brand manager joining a reputed FMCG company, for example, once discovered that they did not have the brand deck (plans, tools, research, messages) of the past five years of a key product. What the organisation did have is the financial numbers – but not a clear history of marketing messages it had put out before the consumer. Previous brand managers had handed over all documents to someone and it was kept somewhere. But no one knew who that someone was and what that somewhere was. In the absence of a simple archiving system, the new brand manager had to collate all brand related background information from scratch so that he could define the future brand positioning. A fully avoidable waste of energy and resources.


Every organisation has a very powerful Finance Department that works round the clock to keep an eye on money flowing in and out of the organisation. Internal and external auditors, controllers and accountants keep a hawk’s eye on every bill and purchase order. But not even a fraction of that energy is used by companies to manage their knowledge. This indicates that most organisations do not believe that Lakshmi follows Saraswati: they do not believe that existence of knowledge systems improve efficiency and effectiveness and can provide raw materials to provoke new ideas or prevent old mistakes. Unless a leader believes that Saraswati is critical, he will end up with an organisation of Sahadevas.

Take a step back. Check if you are creatively shunning this rather tedious matter of knowledge management. If you are, then remember the wise words of Ravan: it must be actually good for you.

BOMBAY FUSION

From chilli mousse cakes to Chinese samosas, tracks down some quirky food items invented by our city



Even if you haven’t seen Ratatouille, you should probably know that one of the best professions to utilise your creativity is making food. Food innovations are the order of city life. Mumbai is no different. We tried out some of the crazy innovations created by enterprising Mumbaikars. While some were worth the effort, some were, well, not creative enough! Read on…

CHILLI MOUSSE CAKE
This one has been tailored to fit many avatars and moods of our desi palate. While Theobroma at Colaba serves the Chilli and Vodka Mousse cake, Tiffins at Hilton Towers, serves what they call the 'White Chocolate and Chilli' mousse cake. This one's mildly gooey but smooth enough to discover the hint of chilli. But unlike the teekha ice-cream, one hardly feels its fiery essence. This one is served on a thin brownie base along with a small scoop of milk sorbet alongside. A paradoxical paradise for those who like creative food. For the rest, enter at your own risk.

ADRAK AUR MIRCHI
ICE-CREAM
Close your mouth, it's real! Temptations of Thane (W) has actually dared to add 'spice' to the traditional ice-cream. While quirky icecreams have been making it big in the frozen dessert scene, this flavour has been quite a revelation with the locals. It may not turn out to be your favourite or many may simply hate it, but still it's worth a try. The milky yet spicy taste may seem like a treat in the first gulp but the aftertaste is awfully hot! You wouldn't realise until you have gulped down a few scoops. The ginger ice-cream has an extremely sharp feel to it and one can only reminisce the adrakwali chai after it. If you have the fetish for the extraordinary then make a trip to this joint. But make sure you sample some from the generous dose of testers and don't forget your water bottle at home!

MASALA THUMBS UP
Do you know where our MNC cola companies do their R&D for coming up with product variants? Varma Cold Drink House in Chembur of course! Okay, jokes apart, the masala Thumbs Up has been there for a while now, especially in Gujarat. But no one in particular had tried it on a popular scale in Mumbai. The entrepreneurs at Varma sizzle up the already fizzy drink with dashes of rock salt, cumin powder, lemon juice, salt and pepper! It then goes through a regime of local bartending tricks only to be poured in cutting-chai glasses. Quite cool, we thought, this Indianising measure of theirs. Whats more, Thumbs Up is just the namesake, you can add the zing into any cold drink you like.


CHINESE SAMOSA
Amidst the patras and ghathiyajalebis, every farsan mart in the
city stocks up on these delectable
samosas. For, the Chinese
samosa has everything stuffed
inside that goes into making delectable Hakka noodles. Be it the
soya sauce or the finely sliced
carrots, capsicum and cabbage,
it has it all. The stuffing is
wrapped around the square samosa patti and is deep fried, an irony to the authentic Chinese food again. Many find this one as the best option to serve as starters in your Indian meal. Some of the better tasting Chinese samosas can be found at Trupti Sweets at CP Tank, off Charni Road among other places.

SCHEZWAN DOSA
From the many uses and abuses of the Schezwan sauce, this one has perhaps been the most popular with our annas. A particular mustgo is the Babulnath Dosawala. Even watching the dude top the plain dosa with carrots, tomatoes, cabbage, cheese, onion and coriander is a treat. But the Chinese kick of course comes from noodles
and oodles of Schezwan sauce. Quite contrary to its name, its chatpata taste screams nothing else than 'Made in India'. After many expert moves with the spatula, this concoction is deftly peeled off the pan and served with coconut chutney, tomato and chilli sauce. It may have several variants elsewhere, but this one tops the list.


CHINESE BHEL
You've probably had this one in the past, and will continue having it occasionally because of its bambaiya taste. It is one chini improvisation which may put many chini people to shame, but who cares. Amongst many joints which have taken on this dish, the HR College Canteen at Churchgate serves quite a generous, tasty helping. Filled with cabbage and carrots apart from the usual stuff, this version of bhel is the perfect quick bite for the college janta. Only hitch, you got to go there only during college hours! But hey, its worth: the canteenwala supplies you with Manchurian sauce (on request) for free!

BEDROOM BLOOPERS

Is your man getting bored with your bedside manner? We list seven mistakes women make in bed, and the changes required to keep the fire burning


HOPING YOUR MAN IS A MIND-READER
It may be a feminine game, but it won't get you what you want. Men just don't think that way, and it's disrespectful to later blame them for something they could never figure out from such indirect communication. Drop the games and be direct. Effective communication is what will hold you in good stead. If you're embarrassed to ask what you want, use language which makes your meaning clear. Though you may find it difficult to express your emotions, he'll need feedback to make sure he carries on enthusiastically. Losing your self in your bliss and not saying anything will make him wonder if you're asleep, dead or uninterested, at which point he is most likely stop.

RESENTING HIM WHEN HE DOESN’T GET IT RIGHT
If you want more foreplay, then you need to say so. If he charges straight into your erogenous zones after a few minutes’ of petting and kissing, then you need to educate him about what you want. Men are much more quickly aroused than women on the whole, and they simply need slowing down. As a woman you’re likely to be more creative than a man, so maybe you can apply your creative skills to sex, and improve it for both of you!

NOT REALISING THAT "WOMEN COME FIRST"!
Well, maybe not in everything, but it's not a bad rule to follow during sex. Men lose interest after a while: like it or not, that’s how they are biologically built (in fact they are programmed to sleep after
sex) and unless they’re especially sensitive, they won’t be much interested in your satisfaction. The best way to deal with this is to have extended foreplay. This way he'll be very turned on and he will enjoy the act.

BEING MORE CRITICAL OF YOUR BODY THAN HE IS
It’s hard for women to believe, but it is true. In general, men are much less critical of your body than you are. When you start hiding it during sex, or refusing to enjoy certain sexual positions because you fear what he might think of your body, he's likely to get very disenchanted, very quickly. If you need reassurance that your body is OK, remember rule number 1: ask him for it. Say, for example, "I'm feeling a bit insecure about my whatever. Do you find them attractive?"

NOT BEING ASSERTIVE DURING SEX
It's an old, old stereotype: men lead, women follow. Well, that certainly shouldn't be true all the time in sex. Even if you like him to be masculine and dominant during sex, or even if you like to feel as if you're being “taken” sometimes, it's just as nice for him to see your assertive side. Take the lead from time to time: give him a treat and make him wonder if his birthday has come early.

BEING CRITICAL OF HIS PERFORMANCE
Nothing but nothing will turn a man off faster (especially if he thinks he’s doing well) than being critical. Instead, find a way of gently expressing your feelings and tell him what you would like instead.

BEING TOO INSECURE
You want the lights off, you have to be under the covers and you never want to take off your shirt. Yeah, that sounds like some really exciting sex. If he’s with you, it’s because he likes you. So it’s time you got over your insecurities and gave in to your flaws. You can do so with baby steps by lighting candles (they provide incredible lighting). Then when you are all set, go with the flow.

So what if it’s a club house

Property builders often quote new amenities to charge higher rates. Actually, it doesn’t cost them much



BUYING a house is not just about knowing the going market rate for a flat in that locality and taking one. It is much more. In the recent Mumbai property exhibition, many property builders showcased their wares. And it was not just the 1bhk, 2bhk and super-built up area they were talking about. The salesperson at the kiosks waxed eloquent about the stateof-the-art amenities that came laced with such properties. If you are guessing if it’s the club house, swimming pool, amphitheatres or water cascades they were talking off, you are wrong. That’s passé and almost considered a requirement by many home buyers today. So, the builders are wooing by mentioning in their glossy brochures — triple height entrance lobby, skating rink, barbeque area, ‘No common walls for complete privacy’, video door phone, car parking with paging facility amongst others. Often these facilities are mentioned to charge higher price for their flats. Should you be paying a higher price for these amenities?

Buyers have to exercise their own discretion before shelling out a higher sum for such properties. A little number crunching shows that it doesn’t cost a builder much to give these extra facilities. But then, it doesn’t stop them from charging a premium, which sometimes could be as high as Rs 500 per square feet more than the going market rate in that locality.

Take for instance, a club house or a swimming pool. Property consultant Jones Lang Lasalle Meghraj estimates that construction cost for a swimming pool and a club house could be Rs 700 and Rs 1,200 per square feet, respectively. Then, the floor space of these facilities are (arguably) loaded into the super-built up area anyway. So in effect, the buyer is paying for it already.

So, the extra expenses, if at all, are for buying the gym equipment and other paraphernalia. What about videodoor phone ? It costs only Rs 8,000 n the market. Children sandpit around Rs 10,000-12,000, water cascades Rs 2-3 lakhs. Laying down a golf putting green — which is essentially a landscaping function — costs the developer between Rs 100 and Rs 150/sq.ft. A simple back of the envelope calculations shows that for an average housing society of 100 flats, these facilities shouldn’t cost more than Rs 200 per square feet even on the higher side.

Secondly, while buying properties with extra amenities ensure that you are aware of the higher maintenance costs, higher amenities add to maintenance costs of society and often many buyers have realised in hindsight that they could have been better off without swimming pools and club houses.

Lastly, while buying, ensure that facilities being given are actually useful to you. How could a triple height entrance lobby, for instance, help you? Not much, if you have a giraffe as your pet.

But here too it won’t take you any further. So, do your due diligence before falling for these amenities.

NSDL cuts fees, but brokers may not pass on the gains

NATIONAL Securities Depository (NSDL) has reduced the fees it charges for all transactions in the stock market. Although the depository is hoping that brokers will pass on the cut to investors and thus bring down the trading costs, experts say that this is very unlikely. Brokers will not be willing to hurt their already shrinking margins.

Two years after it first reduced transaction charges from Rs 8 to Rs 6, NSDL announced on Wednesday that it would further bring down the fees for each transaction to Rs 5. The 16% reduction in fees will be effective from January 1, 2008. A press release issued by the country’s largest depository said that it has been NSDL’s continued commitment to deliver costeffective services.

“It has always been the policy of NSDL to reduce charges with the growth in volumes and share the benefit of increased volumes with the users of the depository system,” the release said. The depository charges the participant (the entity with whom an investor holds a demat account) for every order settled by it. A spokesperson for NSDL said that these depository participants now have the option of passing down the fee-cut to their investors.

“A brokerage charges investors a percentage of the volumes that it executes for him. Hence it will not be feasible to pass on this cut as it will only amount to a few basis points,” a longtime industry observers said. He felt that the reduction in charges will only benefit the depository participants. The cut throat competition in attracting investors has already brought down the fees that brokerages charge from investors.

Reliance Money, the brokerage and distribution arm of ADAG group, recently launched a scheme under which investors can trade for free by registering with them, within limits.

On Slippery GROUND

The government, which has been justifying its decision to keep retail prices of petroleum products artificially low on the ground of helping the poor, is now looking for a face-saving mechanism to bail out oil marketing companies, says Rajeev Jayaswal


GLOBAL crude oil price may soon touch the $100-abarrel mark. Pressure on the government is mounting to allow oil marketing companies (OMCs) to increase retail fuel prices (OMCs are stated to be losing over Rs 240 crore everyday due to artificially low fuel prices). Petroleum minister Murli Deora has expressed his anxiety: “As the international oil prices are close to $100 per barrel, under-recoveries can only go up further and we are very concerned. I am consulting my colleague in the finance ministry to have an early workable solution to the problem. An appropriate decision on price will, however, be taken at an appropriate time.”

Experts say that it would be politically incorrect for the government to raise fuel prices at this juncture when the Gujarat assembly polls are around the corner. But, at the same time, the government can’t ignore the plight of PSUs. As per the official sources, government is considering a combination of measures — reduction in the excise duty, enhanced oil bonds and a marginal hike in retail prices of petrol and diesel — to contain the impact of rising global crude oil prices.

There seems to be some kind of consensus emerging within the Congress party in this regard. Petroleum minister has held meetings with both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi on the issue. According to him, both leaders have been concerned about the rising global crude oil prices and its impact on the health of OMCs. Sources indicate that government may opt for a marginal increase in retail price of petrol and diesel, but it is unlikely that prices of PDS kerosene and domestic LPG would be touched. Besides, it may also explore the options to restructure the excise duty.

Volatility Control
One of the possible solutions is stated to be restructuring of the current excise duty structure of auto fuels. The government is considering an excise duty rejig to minimise the impact of soaring oil prices on oil companies. At present the excise duty on petrol and diesel has two components: an ad valorem duty of 6% that varies with basic price, and a specific duty, specified as so many rupees per litre. The oil ministry has proposed that the ad valorem duty be knocked off altogether and be replaced with a larger specific duty. And the new specific duty rate should be lower than the combined duty at present by Rs 2 per litre.

Currently, excise levy on petrol and diesel is a combination of advalorem and specific rates. The excise duty is 6%+Rs 13/lt for petrol and 6%+3.25/lt for diesel. This is inclusive of the road cess but excludes the 3% education cess. It has been argued that the move could also provide a cushion against international crude oil price volatility. Global crude prices are nearing $100/barrel. Last week, oil had touched a record $98.62/barrel mark in the US.

The move also has some political support. The standing committee of Parliament on petroleum has recommended the removal of ad valorem component of excise duty on petroleum products. Advocates for an excise duty rejig have also cited the Rangarajan Committee: “...imposing ad valorem duties during a time of persistent price increase is debatable. Not only do ad valorem levies exacerbate the burden on the consumer but also result in the government willy-nilly benefiting through higher tax yields, marking it vulnerable to the criticism of ‘profit at the expense of consumers’. There is, therefore, need for both softening and smoothing the impact on the consumers of international price variations and for the government sacrificing ‘windfall gains’ in revenue.” The Centre’s total revenue earning in 2006-07 is around Rs 93,800 crore from petroleum; out of that over 55% (Rs 51,920 crore) is generated from the excise duty.

Devil’s Advocate
There are some experts in the government who argue that petrol and diesel prices may go up by Rs 2/lt and Re 1/lt, respectively, as the government may decide to marginally increase prices of ‘selective’ petroleum products. Mr Deora, however, denies any such move. “There has been no proposal to increase fuel price,” he says. He, however, accepted that “the government is very much alive to the problem”. “We are trying our best to resolve this problem as early as possible,” he said.

But there are others in the government who argue that a price hike is not required at this juncture (the situation could be managed by other measures like duty rejig). Arguments in their arsenal — strong Re (vis-a-vis dollar), strong financial performance of public sector oil companies and provision of over 76% protection against under-recoveries (revenue loss from selling fuel below the cost) to oilcos. They derive more strength from the punch line: ‘protecting the interest of the common people’.

The government officials, closely monitoring the movement of global crude prices, told ET that the situation is not alarming as projected by OMCs. They argued that the claim of public sector OMCs that they were currently losing Rs 3.90/lt on petrol, Rs 6.22/lt on diesel, Rs 15.99/lt on PDS kerosene and Rs 174.17/cylinder on domestic LPG was not correct. “In fact, they are losing less than Re 1/lt on petrol, about Rs 1.5/lt on diesel, Rs 3.83/lt on PDS kerosene and Rs 42/cylinder on domestic LPG. After all, they should not forget to include 42.7% government’s support (oil bonds) and about 33.3% support from upstream companies like ONGC,” an official argued.

Officials also rubbish the claim of OMCs regarding government’s commitment to implement the 1/3rd burden sharing formula. “They (OMCs) are confused. The government committed for an ‘equitable’ burden sharing and not ‘equal’. Both are having two different connotations,” another official said. He was reacting to an oil PSU chairman’s statement that the government had decided to share the burden of rising international oil prices equally between oil companies, the government and the consumers.

Those against any hike in retail fuel prices say that OMCs have no reasons to crib when they are making profits. “IOC, the largest retailer in the country, has posted largest ever profit in the Q2 of current fiscal. Similarly, other OMCs have posted profit,” the official said. IOC registered a profit of Rs 3,818 crore in Q2 of the current fiscal as compared to Rs 2,884 crore for the same quarter previous year. HPCL recorded a net profit of Rs 766 crore (Q2: 2007-08) from Rs 614 crore in the same quarter last year.

OMCs Victimised
In the debate of rising oil prices one factor has been, by and large, ignored by everyone. That is the health of private sector fuel retail companies. According to KPMG executive director Arvind Mahajan: “The brunt of the impact has been borne by OMCs, which have sustained accumulated losses of about Rs 1,00,000 crore during the last year. Private OMCs, in contrast to PSUs, did not have the support of oil bonds and are likely to face even harder times if end prices remain at current levels. Most players have responded by putting a freeze on their marketing efforts.”

According to an oil ministry source, public sector oil companies’ under-recovery is estimated to be around Rs 70,500 crore in the current fiscal year if global prices continue to hover around $100/barrel. Already, the underrecoveries have touched Rs 68,000 crore as on November 12 on an average Indian basket crude price of $72 a barrel. Based on the government’s decision last month, OMCs such as IOC, BPCL and HPCL would get 42.7% or about Rs 30,000 crore in the form of oil bonds, he said. In addition, upstream companies like ONGC will share 35% of the under-recovery.


DUTY BOUND
One of the possible solutions could be restructuring of the current excise duty structure of auto fuels

Some experts argue that petrol and diesel prices may go up by Rs 2/lt and Re 1/lt, respectively

Those against any hike say OMCs have no reasons to crib when they are making profits

Shoaib Akhtar to meet Sanju in jail

PACE MACHINE ON PEACE MISSION


The Pakistani cricketer will soon meet Sanju at Yerawada Jail, Pune. He will also give a special gift to the actor

Pakistani pace ace Shoaib Akhtar wants to meet Sanjay Dutt, who is currently serving a sentence at Yerawada Jail in Pune. The cricketer's PR company, Bobby Khan Holdings, is making all the arrangements to see that his wish is fulfilled.

Shoaib wants to meet Sanjay and tell him that he has a huge fan following in Pakistan who is praying for him, and furthermore, he wants to take a message from the actor to the Pakistanis. Salman Ahmed (Group Managing Director of Bobby Khan Holdings) confirms and says, “Yesterday, Shoaib expressed his wish to meet Sanjay Dutt as he is a huge fan of the actor.”

Since Sanjay is lodged in Yerawada jail currently, Ahmed will first approach the actor's sister, Priya. “Our company will request her to make the arrangements so that Shoaib can meet Sanjay. If that doesn't work out, we will approach the Mumbai police and seek the required permission,” Ahmed says.
Ahmed does not feel that the task is difficult. “Sanjay and Shoaib have known each other for a long time. They have met before on a couple of occasions and they share a good bond,” he adds.

If Dutt is released on November 20 (when his bail plea comes up for hearing), Shoaib will have no problem meeting him. When in Mumbai, or after the on-going India-Pakistan tour is over, he will meet Sanjay at his Pali Hill residence.
When contacted, Shoaib says, “Sanju is a great human being. As an individual and a Pakistani, I want him to know that he is loved by our nation and there are families in Pakistan who say special prayers for Sanju's release. These are testing times for Sanju and his family.”

“I have a special gift for Sanju which I will give him in private and not make it public knowledge. It's not very expensive but something which will give him a lot of peace. I'd also like to take this opportunity to tell Sanju that we all love him,” adds Shoaib.

Incidentally, Shoaib had been offered Sanjay's role of a gangster-onthe run in Mahesh Bhatt's Gangster. The role was played by Shiney Ahuja after both Sanjay and Shoaib turned down the offer. That Shoaib did not do the film due to date problem is another story, but he had shown a keen interest in the project only after he realised that the role had first been offered to Sanjay.

Mahesh Bhatt had said then: “Shoaib was initially amused by the idea of doing a film but when he realised that the role was for real and was offered to Sanjay, he took it up seriously and agreed to meet me in Pakistan. We were looking out for a person who had the combination of a young vulnerable face as well as raw looks. Earlier we had thought of Sanju, but there were date problems, so when Meera, actress of my film Nazar, suggested Shoaib's name, I immediately jumped at the idea.”

FIVE MYTHS ABOUT YOUR OFFICE LIFE

A boss without tantrums? A salary without cuts? It’s simply not possible in our offices, says Malay Desai


Myth (n)
An unproved or false collective belief that is used to justify a social institution
Now, offices being social institutions, it would be safe to say that myths are used to justify offices and work places. We thought we should list the top few – especially the ones rooting for our bosses.

What follows are the results of our painstaking research into the minds and cubicles of Mumbai’s offices. Beware, once they’re busted, you may just slip into depression. Read on…

1 MY BOSS IS IN A NASTY MOOD, ONLY SOMETIMES
Don’t be surprised, this is a myth because there is no room for the word ‘sometimes’ here. After a long enough stint sitting on the stove, your rear gets so used to the heat that you start believing it is the only way to work. Then on, nasty moments only occur for you when they’re really really nasty! (Days when you feel like jumping off your office window, get it?) Truth is, vicious moods are an intrinsic characteristic of our bosses, just as lasun is one of our vada-pav. And FYI, mood swings are not those which go from good to bad, but only from worst to pathetic. When the going gets tough, the tough get nasty.

2 THANKFULLY THERE ISN’T TOO MUCH POLITICS IN MY OFFICE
Jhooth. Saraasar jhooth. And an important one that. Have you ever been to a society do in Mumbai which doesn’t have any gossip? Exactly, if you look closely, the scene is the same inside our offices. Much as you would like to believe that your group of colleagues is ‘not that bad’ when it comes to politics and destructive gossip, you need to open your eyes and ears. According to reliable boss-messengers, looking over GTalk windows has been the newest tool to get inside information. Be it your office romance or abusing the boss or the afterhours drinking plan, there is some or the other agent around you who knows it all. You may not get any immediate harm, but your yearly gratuity statement will say it all. Scientists are currently researching to invent a b****-proof office, but last heard, they were having differences in their team because of data leakage.

3 I AM BEING PAID A HEFTY SALARY
Paisa. Only the greens can keep you going amidst the black world of third-degree work pressure. As long as you see a hefty amount on your payslip each month-end, you turn a blind eye on the zillion cons of your job, don’t you? But, look closely, on its journey from your company's coffers to your account, is that loaf of bread being sliced over and over again – leaving you just the crumbs? Yes, taxations, deductions, the PF and various other confounding terminologies find their way to your payslip without fail and manage to confuse you to a point when you actually feel good looking at the bottomline. So, though you may think standing in the line of fire is worth it, it may actually not be so; your landlord won’t give you any ‘exemptions’.


4 MY BOSS WILL BELIEVE ME IF I SAY I AM SICK / HAVE TO GO FOR A WEDDING
In Mumbai, excuses are like cellphones – everyone has one. So don’t even think your superior will buy it when you are suddenly ‘smitten by fever’ or your cousin suddenly decides to marry. You may have a foolproof plan of calling on Monday morning and saying that (and your boss might just approve it in a whim of fancy), but that doesn't mean he / she has believed you. Bosses approve of such leave more out of helplessness rather than humane reasons and as a smart karyakarta, thou should be aware of it. Also, beware of using the same excuse some time later – your boss might just want to meet this cousin of yours. We’re sure you can do better than weddings and traffic jams for excuses.

5 I WORK FOR OVER 12 HOURS EVERY DAY
This one’s quite widespread in Mumbai’s offices and homes. It has come into being because our office-goer leaves his/her Malad (W) home at 8 am and returns from the Cuffe Parade office well after 9 in the night. Take this: you are not ‘working’ in your 2-hour travel time, the 30-minute lunch break, the umpteen 5-minute smoke breaks, and the more-than-umpteen breaks talking on GTalk with buddies. According to reliable research, we have found the cumulative ‘work’ time put in by aaramkhor Mumbaikar has been 2-4.5 hours. Quite fair, we think, for the finance department to cut your salary through various taxes, eh? And quite unfair, for your spouse’s back home, who face the brunt of your foul mood and compromise because they think your work schedule is ‘so stressful’. What say?

SEBI INTRODUCES NEW DERIVATIVE TOOLS

CHENNAI: Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has decided to introduce seven new derivative instruments like minicontracts and long-tenure options for giving more choice to investors. These include mini-contracts on equity indices; options with longer life/tenure; volatility index and futures & options (F&O) contracts, options on futures, exchange-traded currency (foreign exchange) F&O and exchange-traded products to cater to different investment strategies.

Parekh, others sent on 14-year exile

KP Seen As The Brain Behind The Scam; Sebi Order To Run Concurrently With Earlier Ruling

IN A fresh order against Ketan Parekh (KP) and 17 other entities, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has restrained the tainted trader from accessing the stock market for 14 years. The latest order will run concurrently with the earlier order served to Mr Parekh and some other entities on December 12, 2003, that also restrained Mr Parekh, among others, from accessing the equity market for 14 years.

Moreover, for entities that have been named in the earlier order, the latest one shall be deemed effective from December 12, 2003. For others, the new order will come into force from November 12, 2007.

The latest order is the result of the investigations done by Sebi in stocks like Himachal Futuristic Communications, Zee Telefilms, Adani Exports, Global Tele-Systems, Ranbaxy Laboratories, Shri Adhikari Brothers Television Network, Shonkh Technologies International, Padmini Technologies and Aftek Infosys during the period between October 1999 and March 2001.

According to Sebi, the investigations revealed that Mr Parekh and 17 other entities, who were directly or indirectly related or associated to him, were involved in market manipulation in these stocks. The order further adds that the modus operandi adopted by all the entities in manipulating various scrips was, by and large, the same and Mr Parekh was found to be the mastermind behind all acts of omission or commission by the entities.
Entities apart from Mr Parekh, who have been barred from accessing the equity market for 14 years, include his 10 associates namely Kartik Parekh, Classic Credit, Panther Fincap and Management Services, Luminant Investment, Chitrakut Computers, Saimangal Investrade, Classic Infin, Panther Investrade, Goldfish Computers, and Nakashtra Software.

The regulator has also restrained Triumph International Finance India, Triumph Securities and NH Securities from accessing the securities market for five years. Others like Navinchandra Parekh, Kirtikumar Parekh, Jayant Parekh and Vipul Parekh have been restrained from accessing the securities market for one year. However, due to the December 2003 order, for entities like Ketan Parekh, Kartik Parekh, Classic Credit, Panther Fincap and Management Services, Luminant Investment, Chitrakut Computers, Saimangal Investrade, Classic Infin and Panther Investrade, this order shall run concurrently and shall be deemed effective from December 12, 2003

Govt finally allows number portability

Subscribers in the four metro cities will be able to switch service providers without having to change their cell nos; new service may start by year-end

NEW DELHI: By next New Year’s Day, cellphone users across the four metro cities in the country will be able to switch their service providers without going through the cumbersome and highly inconvenient process of having to change their mobile numbers too.
That’s because the long-awaited ‘number portability’ feature – which would, for example, allow a Vodafone user to keep his number unchanged in case of switching to Bharti Airtel – would have finally arrived by then.
It will be a major bonanza for over 3.75 crore mobile customers in the four metros, which constitutes 18.29 per cent of the total mobile subscriber base in the country.
While announcing the new rule, Communications Minister A Raja also said he will try to implement it in the four metros – Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai – by this yearend. “A meeting will be held with existing operators to seek their co-operation,” Raja said.
‘MIGRATION’ POSSIBLE TOO!
Number portability will also allow a GSM user to switch over to CDMA services while keeping the earlier number, and vice-versa, said Rajesh Kaul who is managing director of Tekelec, a developer of network applications in the telecom field.
“In this case, it is called ‘migration’,” he told Mumbai Mirror.
CDMA, GSM PLAYERS AT IT AGAIN
Quick to react to the new development, chairman of Reliance Communications Anil Ambani termed the latest government decision as pro-competition, pro-consumer and pro-choice.
“For the first time in the four metros, GSM operators will face real competition,” he said in a release.
But, in their statement, GSM operators’ lobby Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI) blasted the new policy, claiming it helped only a “select operator”. They made it clear that the industry had no objection to the introduction of number portability provided the same was done in a holistic manner covering all operators, both fixed and mobile, and not just mobile, and being implemented all India.
Most telecom operators had been opposing the new service by claiming that the process will involve huge investments of over Rs 18,000 crore across the nation.
3G POLICY ANNOUNCED TOO
The government also announced immediate release of spectrum for ‘third generation’ (3G) mobile services. Raja said the government has decided to release 3G spectrum in 2.1 GHz band with immediate effect.
Telecommunications Secretary DS Mathur said about 30 MHz spectrum can be released to accommodate three players in the first phase.

IT’S NOT MY FAULT

In the quest for excellence, organisations today spend more time finding faults in employees than in finding jobs that fit them. This results in bitter employeeorganisation engagement



It’s interesting to note how perceptions of right and wrong are influenced by personal considerations. Even more interesting is the fact that based on these personal perceptions, we tend to brand an employee, and point fingers at his/her personality, instead of re-evaluating what he or she could have done differently and how the organisation could have drawn the best out of the employee.

CORPORATE PERCEPTIONS AND USAGES

Corporate perceptions of what is acceptable and unacceptable are contextual, relative and in clash with the personal sensitivity of employees.
This is known as hurried branding. There’s always a hurry to brand an employee - be he good or bad. Task are given to subordinates based on whether he has done it or not. This quickly build up an opinion about that person. If a particular task done is not liked, instead of saying ‘it needs more improvement’, It brand the person a ‘failure’. The same example could be looked at from a wholly different perspective. When a particular work done is appreciated by the supervisor or the manager, the worker is immediately put on a pedestal. In other words, depending on individual perception, the worker is branded Mr Right or Mr Wrong.
It is also important to gauge what someone is right or wrong in relation to - personal values or a set of agreements. In the context of an organisation, it is very important to stick to unwritten corporate agreements - plans or codes of conduct. If a task is done as per the agreement, it is ‘right’. So, ‘wrong’ here basically involves the issue of violation of that corporate agreement or company core values.
Instead, most of the time, what happens is, it is said that something is wrong from the standpoint of a personal value premise, and expect others to follow.
Added to this external perception, experts feel, employees themselves tend to attach a negative perception to their competencies. During assessment, they would want to know more about their weaknesses. Linking this to an employee’s cultural mindset. This happens because it is thought it is not right for an employee to be wrong. Also the nature of work itself has changed - it’s more team-oriented and less individualistic, making it tougher to evaluate individual performance.

FEAR OF THE WRONG

This ambiguity in perception brings in a mindset where we think that being ‘wrong’ is harmful. Hence, organisations constantly drive elimination rather than enablement.
The urge to escape wrongdoing also makes managers constantly raise quality standards. In the process of raising the bar, they get into a mindset wherein they say, ‘we do not mind losing out on 10 good people, but we always ensure that not even one wrong person gets in. What is interesting to note here, is the fear of a wrong people entering into the organisation, as a consequence of which managers only look for faults in people. And that’s where ‘elimination’ begins. As a result, they lose out on lot of good people.
Even more interesting is the way the equation changes once a candidate enters an organisation. Because he has to fight a number of eliminations to get in, there’s always an element of vengeance. The moment he’s in, he starts looking for faults in his manager. Unfortunately ads are also portraying a negative aspect of the manager-team member relation.

TWO WRONGS DON’T ALWAYS MAKE A RIGHT

So instead of looking at a wrong-proof system, how about looking at embracing best practice, and enabling people excellence rather than banking upon fault elimination mechanisms? The effort has to start with changing individual mindsets. Culturally, Indians steer clear of appreciating good work, and are quick at finding faults instead. This has to change.
Companies need to strike a balance whereby strength is drawn from the ‘right’, and the ‘wrong’ is seen as a stepping stone for success.
Without this attitude, no organisation’s people strategy can go very far.

‘WRONG’ IS NOT A DIRTY WORD AT HSBC GLOBAL RESOURCING

Leaders are specifically groomed to identify employees who have exceeded expectations and have excelled in their realm of work.
Performance appraisals are designed to focus on improving employee careers rather than revisit their shortcomings. “This does not mean we accommodate mediocrity. Employees are given optimum opportunities to upgrade their performance.

Someone’s watching?

THERE ARE A VARIETY OF RESOURCES AVAILABLE TODAY FOR AN EMPLOYER TO FIND OUT WHAT HIS/HER EMPLOYEES ARE DOING IN THEIR OWN TIME. HOWEVER, WOULD IT BE ETHICAL TO KEEP TRACK OF WHAT YOUR EMPLOYEES DO WHEN THEY’RE NOT ON THE JOB AND MAKE JUDGMENTS BASED ON THAT CONDUCT?


We all have our personal lives, which we distinctly try and keep away from our work lives. As the popular belief goes, one should be very careful about his/her personal life and not discuss personal matters with anyone at the professional front. It also might be the case that a certain employee has an entirely different persona in the outside world. He might be the sweet and silent hardworking guy who sits next to you, doesn’t make much of an effort to talk and concentrates on delivering the best at work. But then one day you catch him at a local club in town, in high spirits, indulging in ‘unruly’ behaviour. Should this incident change your perception about him? Does this imply that he is not fit for the job? Should the outside life of an employee be of any concern to the employer? Does personal character and behaviour determine the capability and worthiness of an employee? These are all debatable questions. While some feel that an employee’s behaviour after work should have no bearing on his/her professional life, there are others who feel that there is no distinction really. Some young professionals argue that they have the right to live their personal lives on their own terms and the organisation has no role to play in it.

MY OWN SPACE

According to Nisha Bajaj, CCA and Unit HR Head, Shoppers Stop Limited, one should keep his/her personal matters away from work life. “But on the other hand, the fact remains that one’s personal and professional life cannot be separated from each other. If a person’s personal life is disturbed, it obviously would hamper his/her professional life sooner or later,” she expresses. It is important to have welldefined rules stating what is, and what isn’t acceptable behaviour outside work. “We work in a creative field and are well aware of the idiosyncrasies of the creative mind - a mind that is restless and seeks new experiences and adventures all the time. A few stray incidents of an individual employee testing his/her limits or venting after a stressful day are just good anecdotes that become part of the office folklore. We draw a line where personal idiosyncrasies start crossing the lines of professionalism,” adds Tarun Laroia, COO, Miditech Pvt Ltd. Also, offensive off-duty employee behaviour may provoke many skeptics to rip off the concerned organisation’s reputation and challenge the credibility of its value system.

PRIVATE MATTERS


Amita Chanana, Personnel Manager, Hyatt International has a counterpoint. “In today’s performance oriented environment, organisations focus on the performance of the employees at the workplace. As long as an employee demonstrates skills required to perform his/her job well, is diligent and well behaved at the workplace, he/she is fit for the job,” she informs. At LG, they believe that organisational goals and targets should be of prime importance to an employee. “LG does not recommend mixing professional lives of any employee with his/her personal life,” explains Dr. Y V Verma, Director HR and MS, LG Electronics India Limited. “As the instance regarding the misdemeanor of a particular employee goes, I am only concerned with the employee’s behaviour at work. But if I see him/her misbehaving at a local club, it would give me food for thought that may be he/she is not as he/she pretends to be at work. He/she has suppressed his/her feelings or changed his/her behaviour for reasons best known to him/her. I would try and probe him/her about his/her behaviour to understand whether it is a temporary problem or something serious,” says Bajaj. Many organisations today have in-house counsellors who try to deal with personal or professional issues that the employees might have. “I won’t mind going out of the way to help an employee who is going through some personal problems. But if I see no improvement in his/her behaviour, I would consider and reconsider my decision about the employee before giving him/her any responsibility or a higher role,” adds Bajaj.

HR managers may agree that an employee convicted of an offense committed outside work does not essentially mean that their dismissal would be fair. Termination could be fair if his/her off duty behavioural pattern begins to reflect in the workplace. If the employee becomes unsuitable to carry on with the sort of work he/she is doing, dismissal then becomes an option since the employee tends to be less productive.

Opines Laroia, “As long as such kind of behaviour doesn’t impact the individual or the overall outcome of the employee, he/she has the right to self expression.” Verma agrees to this and says, “We understand individual mindsets and appreciate the freedom to make personal choices till the deliverables are aligned to company goals.”

PERSONAL AFFAIRS


One cannot doubt the fact that an individual’s behaviour and habits are pre-requisites of his/her character. But every individual also has the freedom to live his/her personal life the way he/she wants to – it’s their own prerogative and they are mature enough to set their priorities right.


For Miditech, the character of an employee is of utmost importance along with his/her capability as it helps them assess his/her worthiness for the organisation. “Media is a demanding field where we have to constantly deal with hyper sensitive people, super-sized egos, stated and un-stated insecurities. But one principal - the commitment to deliver the best and meet deadlines, guides them all. If it is personal difficulty that an individual is going through, we try to sort things out, understand the problem and work out solutions. But we do have a sort of ‘zero tolerance’ zone at Miditech for any unbecoming behaviour which compromises the dignity of other employees,” adds Laroia.

To be or not to be, is a choice that we all have to make. It is not necessary that we behave in a certain manner at all occasions. Though at work, the goal should be of delivering the best, irrespective of what your personal life demands of you.

For a few pennies more

You could cut your tax bill by working as a consultant




ASHA and Ramesh both work for HR & Company — an HR recruitment agency — and their areas of work, educational qualifications and work experience are similar.

Although, they were both hired at a similar remuneration, their bank accounts had a different story to tell at the end of the month. The amount received by Asha was significantly lower than Ramesh’s take home income. Asha could not understand the difference and it seemed like an error in remittance of money until her accountant solved the mystery.

The key reason for this difference was the terms of the individual contracts. Asha being a salaried employee was under an exclusive employment contract, whereas Ramesh worked as a freelance consultant. Being an employee, Asha’s salary was subject to tax deduction at source (TDS) at the notified slab tax rates applicable to individuals (maximum marginal rate of 33.99%). Of course, she did enjoy tax relief on various components of her salary such as HRA, conveyance and medical allowance. However, this was not enough to bring her take home income at par with that of Ramesh.

On the other hand, Ramesh’s receipts were treated as professional income and subject to a tax deduction at the rate of 10% plus surcharge and education cess. However, the advance tax would be payable by him if the tax liability on his professional income exceeded Rs 5,000 (after tax deductions).


The difference between both the terms is not just the tax deduction but a host of other factors. For a salaried employee, an employer has a right to prescribe the nature of duties to be performed, issue directions and regulate supervision whereas a consultant has a lot more flexibility in terms of timings, location of work and so on. Exclusivity of service is yet another characteristic of an employee whereas a consultant would generally be a freelancer and would typically work for more than one company.

An employee is eligible to participate in the company’s long-term benefit schemes such as provident fund and gratuity. These benefits are not available to a person who is working as a consultant.

A consultant can claim genuine business expenses as deductions from the professional receipts if the expenses are incurred in connection with the work done. However, he or she will need to ensure that all proofs of expenditure incurred during the year are maintained and documented. Only certain specified professionals like doctors or accountants have to maintain books of accounts irrespective of their income. For others, including consultants, this is compulsory if the gross income exceeds Rs 120,000 per annum. Tax audit is required if gross receipts exceed Rs 10 lakh per annum.

Besides maintaining these bills, which could be called for during the
course of tax assessments if one wishes to be a consultant, it would be essential to understand some of the key differentials between an employee and an independent consultant to ensure that there are no hassles during the course of tax assessments at a later stage if questions are raised by tax authorities.

It is difficult to lay down any one test to distinguish the relationship of an employer- employee with that of an independent consultant. In many cases, the test laid down is that in case of an employer-employee relationship, the employer can order or require what is to be done and how it is to be done, but in the case of an independent consultant, one can only say what is to be done but not how it shall be done.

Also, one should note that the option to work as a consultant or an employee lies in the nature of work to be done by them. Thus, being hired as a consultant or an employee is not a matter of personal choice and is related to the exclusivity of contract and the extent of reporting and supervision, etc.

So Ramesh, being a freelancer was appropriately hired as a consultant and could work for more than one company whereas Asha, who had an exclusive contract of service with the company, was designated as an employee and had the long-term benefits associated with the employment. There are pros and cons to both options and often it is a matter of individual choice.

Religion pays: Big money flows into Nanded

FOR decades, religion and politics have been two sides of the same coin in India. This is a story about how the coin is being tossed up once again in Maharashtra.
About 400 km from Mumbai lies Nanded, a mid-sized town in the backward region of Marathwada. But it is now suddenly inundated with big money. Home to the second most important shrine of Sikhs after Amritsar’s Golden Temple, Nanded is now gearing up for ‘Gur-Ta-Gaddi’, the tercentenary celebration of the consecration of the Guru Granth Sahib.
The Centre and the Maharashtra government have sanctioned around Rs 1,500 crore for developmental projects in the Sikh pilgrim town ahead of the event. Over 25 lakh Sikhs from all over the world are expected to attend Gur-Ta-Gaddi at the Takht Sachkhand gurudwara in Nanded in October 2008.
The state government has granted Rs 733 crore and the Centre Rs 774 crore under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission for the town. The JNNURM is incidentally Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s pet project that promises help to cities to spruce up infrastructure.
Recently, Union home minister Shivraj Patil, who comes from the region, addressed a highlevel meeting in Mumbai to review the progress of work. Mr Patil directed state authorities to expedite all development projects in Nanded. “Nanded city development projects should be completed as per schedule so that the pilgrimage town is ready to host the landmark religious event,” Mr Patil said.
Government sources told ET that the Planning Commission too has shown interest in sanctioning funds for the city through JNNURM. Though no one is talking about the religious connections, there is a degree of anxiety over pumping so much funds into a city, which is not so underdeveloped. “You don’t need Rs 1,500 crore to widen roads and beautify stations and gardens,” a government official said.
State industry minister and chairman of the tercentenary celebration committee Ashok Chavan, however, defended the government’s move. “The city will see over 25 lakhs devotees coming in. It needs this kind of funds to prepare itself for it and create the infrastructure,” he told ET recently. Mr Chavan, like Union home minister Shivraj Patil and the state chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, comes from the same region.
The committee has also received Rs 8 crore from Punjab chief minister Prakash Singh Badal. Maharashtra police chief PS Pasricha has also contributed in hi own way. A tableaux to spread awareness about the teachings of the Sikh gurus will be launched in Nanded district on November 15, Mr Pasricha said.
The tableaux will be a replica of the Nanded gurudwara and the weapons of Guru Gobind Singh, which are kept in Nanded, will be displayed in the tableaux for ‘darshan’.

How to keep your employees happy without extra pay

Work is, well, work. But a few companies understand that in order to get the most out of their staffers and keep them they need to have fun. At least sometimes.


Take Nugget Markets, a 10-store northern California grocer. Turnover is 12% among its 900 full-time employees. That's relatively unheard of in the grocery industry, where average turnover is 8% higher. CEO Eric Stille attributes it to Nugget's culture.

Management shows employees they are valued with dance parties, field trips, unexpected financial giveaways and lots of free food. "We want our team to know how much they're appreciated," says Chris Carpenter, Nugget's COO. "That's the number one thing we want them to understand."

That's not a priority for many employers. But it should be. Many say they're fretting about how expensive it is to advertise, recruit and train new employees, not to mention the toll it takes on morale. They're racking their collective brains over how to attract and keep the best talent. It's become such a key issue because unemployment is low (4%), and the supply of jobs is high. That adds up to lots of options for employees.


Interestingly, throwing money at staffers isn't always the answer. Neither is throwing a party every few months. Having fun at work and creating a cohesive team is just one element. The most successful companies also realise flexibility, values, career development and providing meaningful experiences are also important elements to minimising turnover. The interesting thing is that many of the companies that value having a good time usually incorporate those other elements too.

Nugget Markets, for example, pays its employees for sick days they didn't use. They provide incentives to come into work every day. Combine something like that with the newest addition to Nugget's roster of events a rave held on a Saturday at an auditorium in the University of California, Davis. The idea was to recreate a Las Vegas nightclub complete with a DJ flown in from Sin City, a band and an elaborate light system. The grand total was $150,000 -- money well spent, Stille says. "It's not about the money," says Stille. "It's an investment, and you can't figure out a return on investment on that event, but as long as we're creating a great working environment, it's worth every dime."

Other events held for Nugget Market employees: a trip to Six Flags and white water rafting. (Employees who don't want to go rafting are given a paid day off and the $75 it would cost the company to send them on the trip.)

Aside from the field trips, there's a certain spirit brought out in just about everything they do. For a recent sales presentation, management replicated the Octagon used for the Ultimate Fighting Championship and had salespeople deliver presentations in the ring. "They were in a fighting mentality," says Stille.



The Octagon isn't for everyone. Neither is the Rave or white water rafting. And that's what companies need to keep in mind when hiring new employees: Do their personalities mesh with that of the company? If they don't, they still won't remain in the job. "You have to touch the heart of what is considered fun for the people that work for you," says Tamara Erickson, author of Workforce Crisis. "Companies that are good at retention are engaging people. They hire people who fit in there. The ones that are good at it tend to be a bit odd. They do things that are different."

Many will say the Octagon is evidence of that.

Rackspace, a San Antonio, Texas-based managed hosting company, is a bit kooky too. Their annual version of Oktoberfest, Racktoberfest, features a David Hasselhoff look-a-like contest, German beer (there's a two-drink maximum) and dancing to live German oompa-pa music. Family and friends are invited to join employees. This year nearly 1,000 people attended. It cost between $30,000 and $40,000.

"Throwing money at people will only work for a little while," says Rackspace's CEO Lanham Napier. The nine-year-old firm added 80 new employees per month last year and expects that number to grow to 90 next year. Napier says there's an 11% attrition rate annually.

His system for keeping talented employees is clear. Pick people who fit into the organisation both professionally and personality-wise; form small work teams that have their own authority and if you get a good result you get a bonus. He also allocates a "fun budget" for each team. They've used it for all sorts of activities including tubing, laser tag and videogames.

The next step is to advertise the culture of the company. Use those events as a way to recruit talent. "The best thing to do if you're a company is make it clear what you have to offer," says Erickson. That way, when a candidate receives two job offers, and everything else is equal, they might go to the company that has a culture similar to theirs.

After all, bosses want employees to look forward to coming to work every day

ICICI fined Rs 50 lakh for using ‘goons’

THE Delhi Consumer Commission fined ICICI Bank a whopping fine of Rs 50 lakh for employing “goons” to |recover loan and deplored the practice of the banks intimidating consumers to pay the installments.

In the significant judgement, the Commission deprecated the “audacity and impunity” with which the banks have been effecting forcible possession of vehicles and ordered ICICI also to pay Rs 5 lakh to a consumer, who was mercilessly beaten by the recovery agents while they snatched a loaned car from him. “No civilised society governed by rule of law can brook such kind of conduct,” the Commission’s president Justice JD Kapoor said, adding the violent methods adopted by the recovery agents were serious violation of “human rights”. Holding the ICICI Bank guilty of “unfair trade practice”, the Commission termed such miscreants as “yahoos” and said they are boorish and a brutal lout, who care a fig for legal and judicial authorities, including the Supreme Court.

While taking to task the leading bank, it vented its anger on ICICI for flouting the apex court’s direction that restrained all the financial institutions from employing musclemen to recover a loan amount or possession of a vehicle. The Commission, also comprising member Rumnita Mittal, issued notices to the collection manager of ICICI and the CEO of the recovery agency, seeking their explanations over blatant violation of the direction of the highest court of the nation.

Its strong worded order came recently while hearing a complaint by Tapan Bose, whose loaned car was taken away by some recovery agents after beating up his friend’s son with iron rods on January 8, leading to serious injuries on his skull and other parts of the body. ICICI, however, refused to own up the act contending the agents were employed separately by the recovery agency and it could not be held culpable for any such act as it had asked the agency to conduct themselves in accordance with the law.

Quashing the bank’s argument, the Commission said, “For every illegal act of the collection agency, the bank is directly liable,” adding the consumer had no concern with an internal agreement between the bank and any other agency and they could not be made to pay the price for it.

It termed the musclemen as “robbers and hardened criminals”, who beat up a consumer for recovering a few thousand rupees, snatch the key of a vehicle and take it away little realising the urgency or the emergency of the person.

“They insult everyone, humiliate the inmates and create scene. They have driven people to commit suicide for a few thousands,” the Commission said in a release, maintaining there was a civil legal remedy for recovering loans and employing goons for this was a beyond the parameter of the law.

Setting secretarial standards for proper boardroom behaviour

ICSI Outlines Six Standards To Bring In Clarity In Areas Where The Law Is Either Silent Or Ambiguous

THREE years ago, a large business empire in India was heading for a vertical split. The initial sparks came out when the second-in-command in the group alleged that a very substantive matter concerning the powers of the top two men in the group, which required “intensive discussion and consideration of the board of directors was introduced through a supplementary agenda at the end of a board meeting, without proper and due notice”.


The vice-chairman was kept completely in the dark, it was alleged. Boardroom governance has been the subject of intense debate throughout the world and it is coming into sharper focus again here now with the regulator of company secretaries recommending to corporate houses to adopt certain practices in the areas where the company law is either ambiguous or silent.

The Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) has come out with six secretarial standards, including two on meeting of board of directors and general meeting. While the standards specify many timelines that are not prescribed by the company law, the institute maintains that these standards do not go beyond the existing law, but only complements it.

“The secretarial standards aim at bringing more clarity in certain areas where the law is either silent or ambiguous. Wherever the law is silent, we recommend certain good governance practices, and where it is ambiguous, the standards try to bring in more clarity. These do not overstep or modify the law in any way. The standards also interpret it correctly for stakeholders’ reference,” said ICSI president Priti Malhotra.


For example, to avoid any item of significance being considered and approved without the prior knowledge of directors, the standard provides that prior notice for such items is essential. The Companies Act does not have any such requirement. “Substantive items cannot be introduced as ‘any other item’ without enough notice,” says Ms Malhotra.

The company law does not prescribe any length of notice for calling a meeting either. The secretarial standard prescribes at least 15 days notice. It also recommends that the agenda should be sent at least seven days before the date of the meeting. Notice should be given to all directors in India and abroad and may be sent by hand, post, fax or e-mail.


Where notice is given by electronic mode, a hard copy should also be sent by post. The standard also says that notice should be given even when meetings are held on pre-determined dates or at pre-determined intervals. The company law is silent on this issue.

Similarly, the standard recommends that the quorum should be present at every stage of the meeting. Any business transacted by a number lesser than the quorum is void, it says. The company law only prescribes the quorum requirement — one-third of the total strength of the board, or two directors, whichever is higher. The secretarial standard says that it is not sufficient that quorum is present at the commencement of the meeting. Quorum should be present at every stage of the meeting. Any business transacted by a number less than the quorum is void.


The standard also covers a wide range of issues, including how to approve financial results at board meetings and the contents of the minutes of meetings. As decisions taken by the board are collective decisions, the names of directors who dissented or abstained from the decision should be recorded. This is essential, since the minutes are very persuasive evidence of the proceedings and prima facie evidence in any subsequent proceeding challenging the directors’ conduct in respect of a particular decision. The company law only says that the minutes should contain the names of dissenting directors.

These prescriptions, however, are not binding on companies at the moment although many corporate houses, including Reliance Industries, Tata Metaliks, Reliance Energy and Ashok Leyland are voluntarily adopting them and reporting compliance in their annual reports, says Ms Malhotra, who is working with her counterparts in other countries to evolve a common set of governance standards internationally.

Unlike the dictates of the regulator of chartered accountants, these standards cannot be enforced. It is, therefore, talking to the government to make it a legal requirement in the new company law which is in the making. Representatives of the ministry of corporate affairs and the capital market regulator are aware of these standards as they are part of the institute’s panel that evolved these standards.

MIND YOUR FAMILY BUSINESS

Working with your family could be a pleasant experience but it brings with it whole lot of responsibilities. Read on to find out where you must draw the line


Operating a family business can be an exciting way to spend your time on the job and a prosperous way to develop your familial relationships. With the potential for long histories, rich in tradition, successful family businesses thrive because everyone involved enjoys learning and working with relatives with whom they are comfortable. At the same time, there are several challenges associated with family businesses. Family disputes, unbalanced employee treatment and lack of planning for the future are a few of the most common issues. Here is how to handle them well.

SEPARATE FAMILY FROM WORK

Family business often encourages a stronger commitment to the company. There's a temptation to work overtime and on weekends, but that isn't always good for the family unit's health. Business might come first, but family should always be a strong second. As such, it is important to make regular plans for the family to spend time together away from the office, on vacations or family outings, for example. While your family is away from the business, work should be the last thing on anyone's mind, and no one should think about or discuss it.

TREAT EVERYONE EQUALLY

Treat your family members with the same level of respect that you give to your customers. This also applies to public displays of affection if you're working with your significant other. You might think it's cute, but your staff and family members will find professional actions more comfortable than your affectionate ways.
Equal treatment also applies to written policies, employee behaviour and hiring procedures. This works best if you start early, by creating clear job descriptions and hiring based on qualifications, not on genes.

SIMPLY LET GO!

When you're in charge of a family business, you should be prepared for and respect the decision of anyone and everyone who chooses to move on. If you try to confine them to your business, you risk worsening your personal (and professional) relationship, which might cause more instability to the business than if you let them go.

DON'T ABUSE POWER

To prevent the abuse of power and keep your family relationships solid, you should be positive and constructive in your dealings with family employees. If you need to criticise a family member, make sure that your comments are about the job and not personal or about their place in the family. Whenever you can, be positive and offer friendly feedback that makes them feel good about the great work that they do for you.

HAVE A SUCCESSION PLAN

To formulate a quality succession strategy, sort out the roles of the company's new leaders and redefine the management roles. This will give everyone a clear picture of where the business is going and who will be doing what, thus minimising confusion during the transition. Don't be surprised if role changes and new business positions appear as a result of a succession. From there, figure out an authority structure to deal with problems, and don't forget about the outgoing owners– who will need a plan that provides a financial cushion on the way out.

Bachelor’s in Marriage

Many non-Christians sign up for the marriage preparatory course offered by the Church



Last week, Mahinder Singh, a resident of Tardeo who works in the information technology industry, attended a two-day Marriage Preparatory Course (MPC) conducted by Snehalaya Family Service Centre in Mahim.

“I recently got engaged and I wanted to get an overview of marriage. I wanted to be prepared for marital life,” he says. Snehalaya is run by the Roman Catholic Church, but Singh and his fiancee are Hindus.

Singh signed up after a friend, also a Hindu who had attended the course, recommended it. The church says that an increasing number of non-Catholics are signing up for the MPC conducted by them. “In the 1990s, we could chance upon an odd non-Christian couple in maybe, one of every three batches. After 2002, every batch seems to have participants who are not Catholics,” says Father Cajetan Menezes, director of Snehalaya. Many participants sign up after hearing about it from their Christian friends or colleagues. Others read about it on the organisation’s website. There are some who come out of curiosity. Others join their Catholic partners. Recently, a Kutchi Jain woman who had married a Catholic, attended it and later wrote about it in a community newsletter. The response to the article was so tremendous that elders from the sect invited Menezes to conduct a workshop on the subject for married couples in their sect.

In Mumbai, nearly 450 people take part in the training conducted by Snehalaya every month. It is estimated that between three to eight per cent of these couples attending the MPC are non-Christian. Most of them are Hindu, but there are also Parsis and Muslims.


Menezes says that the MPC is popular because training in relationship skills are rarely offered elsewhere. Apart from learning compatibility skills, participants at the MPC also get a refresher course in sexuality and family finances. “Such a programme is important because marriage rituals alone cannot prepare a couple for marital life,” says father Anthony Charanghat, spokesperson for the archbishop of Mumbai.

“With the divorce rate going up, people are worried about short-lived marriages. They naturally want to have a good start in their marital life,” says Menezes.
The compatibility test conducted as part of the class is particularly popular with the participants. “It is a complete course,” says Charanghat. “During the training, couples can find our whether they are compatible. If they are totally incompatible, the course can be a real eyeopener for them.” Between five to 10 per cent of the couples take a cue from the results of the compatibility tests and opt to separate, rather than get into what could be a difficult marriage.

MPC had a beginning when the last pope, John Paul II, trained couples for a marital life when he was a parish priest in Poland. In 1981, he wrote a significant paper on marriage and family. Now the MPC is a compulsory requirement for those seeking marriage under the laws of the Catholic church. In Mumbai, the training was introduced in 1981.


As more couples from other religions sign up for the programme, adjustments have been made in it to suit the needs of all participants. For instance, non-Catholics do not have to attend the lesson on natural family planning, which is promoted by the church as an alternative to artificial contraception.

“We are aware that more and more people from other religions are coming for the course. We have adjusted the study for non-Catholics so that the religious sacraments are not part of their course,” says Charanghat.

Snehalaya has also introduced new courses to meet changing trends in society. Next month, the centre will start a programme for married couples in longdistance relationships. Snehalaya estimates that 20 to 25 per cent marriages now come under this category.

Cheque bouncing: Proper notice must before action

SC Rejects Plea For Criminal Proceedings Citing Absence Of Notice

THE Supreme Court on Friday said a notice in accordance with the law is required for initiation of proceedings in cases related to dishonoured cheques. A bench comprising justice SB Sinha and justice HS Bedi said: “Unless a notice is served in conformity with proviso (b) appended to Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, the complaint petition would not be maintainable.

The Parliament, while enacting the provision, consciously imposed certain conditions. One of the conditions was service of a notice making demand of the payment of the cheque as is evident from the use of the phraseology payment of the said amount of money.”

An omnibus notice, without specifying as to what the amount due through the dishonoured cheque was, would not subserve the requirement of law, the court said. Such a notice has to be issued within 30 days from the date of receipt of information from the bank in regard to the return of the cheque, the court said. It said for initiation of criminal proceedings against the defaulter, the service of a notice is imperative.

The apex court dismissed an appeal, which had sought initiation of criminal proceedings against the defaulter, on the ground of failure to serve a proper notice in terms of proviso appended to Section 138.

The party filing the appeal, Rahul Builders, had entered into a contract with Arihant Fertilizers & Chemicals for construction of a building and factory premises. The appellant executed the contract. It submitted bills for execution of contractual work for Rs 26,46,647. Arihant Fertilizers paid Rs 17,74,238 and Rs 8,72,409 was outstanding.

A cheque for Rs 1,00,000 drawn on Federal Bank, Indore, was issued by Arihant. But upon presentation of the cheque, it was not honoured. Subsequently, a notice was sent saying that the cheque for Rs 1,00,000 was returned. The notice asked the company to pay the dues.

The court said Arihant Fertilizer was not called upon to pay the amount which was payable under the cheque issued by it. The amount which it was called upon to pay was the outstanding amount of Rs 8,72,409. No demand was made upon it to pay the sum of Rs 1,00,000 tendered to the complainant through the issued cheque. It was not proper, the court said.

RBI’s in favour of migration to new payment model

Cell Phones, Pre-Paid Cards Could Soon Become Payment Tools

A CHANGE in the regulatory regime to enable a migration to a new payments model featuring the use of mobile phones and pre-paid cards may not be too far off. In its first review of payments and settlements systems in India, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has flagged off the need for a new payment model considering the high cost involved in the use of credit and debit cards for small payments. The review report has made out a strong case for raising awareness of payment products, transparency in charges and the need for possible regulatory changes to suit innovative products.
The review report says the widespread use of mobile instruments for payment and settlement services would require that the cash-in and cash-out points for these payments should not be curtailed by the number of bank branches. It would require that the central bank carry out regulatory changes to facilitate the maintenance of customer accounts at mobile companies and pooled accounts at banks. It also suggested the facilitation of acceptance and disbursal of cash at merchant or mobile phone service providers’ locations, similar to what has been permitted by the central banks of Kenya and Philippines.
The review was released by RBI, after collecting feedback from banks, trade and industry and consumer associations. Cash transfer and banking through cellphones have been successfully experimented in countries like South Africa, Mexico and North Korea. In South Africa, mobile company MTN had partnered with Standard Bank to create a low-cost mobile banking platform.
Recently in India, Bharti Airtel has partnered with State Bank of India and ICICI Bank for mobile banking and pilot projects on mobile remittances have been conducted for the past few months. Also, there has been an emergence in the number of mobile payments companies like mChek, Paymate and Obopay which have set up shop in India, hoping to tap into the huge unbanked population.
Also highlighted was the need for transparency in service and other related charges. In particular, the need to reduce the amount of surcharge levied on merchants for credit and debit cards was pointed out since they disincentivise the use of such payment gateways. It also suggested banks may be encouraged to provide incentives to merchants in smaller cities to improve the acceptance of credit and debit cards. It further suggested for the encouragement of customers by banks to use their debit cards at merchant locations.
While some banks have been promoting the use of payment instruments, they don’t have proper systems for addressing grievances, the review pointed out. It suggested that such grievance redressal mechanisms, manned by competitive staff be made available at branch levels. The need for trained bank employees at bank counters was also highlighted by the review. The central bank added 59 of the 1,064 clearing houses should make use of MICR-sorting machines, since 80% of the cheque volumes of the country are handled by these centres. A more efficient method of cheque clearing called Magnetic Media Based Clearing System (MMBCS), which will bring more automation to clearing, is being implemented in other clearing houses associated with more than 15 branches, where it is being done manually at present, it mentioned

Octroi on way out, but city must wait

State To Compensate Local Bodies By Modifying VAT Rules, Allowing Them To Hike Property Tax

ALARGE part of Maharashtra will soon be free from octroi — a state levy that continues to exist in the western state. In about a month, 21 municipal corporations will finally do away with octroi, which has long been a nightmare for the local business. But the bad news is that Mumbai, the country’s business capital, has been excluded from the list and will continue to collect octroi.
With octroi set to go, the state government is planning to modify VAT rules that will allow parting of funds for local bodies. The government will also allow municipal bodies to hike property tax. The decision though is sure to cheer the industry, but may invite citizens’ wrath as it’s bound to make living in cities a bit expensive.
Octroi has been a bane for the industry in Maharashtra. The latest to revolt was Bajaj Auto, which closed its Pune unit and moved to an interior location to save on octroi outgo. There is general discomfort with octroi as ever-expanding cities in Maharashtra are seen encompassing industries around them, bringing them within municipal limits and making them pay octroi. This has seen a flight of investment from cities in the state. Incidentally, Bihar is the only other state yet to get rid of octroi.
After nearly two decades of delay, which saw as many as 12 committees recommending ways to get rid of the municipal menace, the Maharashtra government has finally made up its mind to scrap octroi. “Now, it’s final. The state government would withdraw octroi from all cities except Mumbai,” chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh was quite categorical. The proposal to abolish this local duty has been put up before the Cabinet, which may consider it in a week or so, a top functionary of the Democratic Front government told ET.
Mr Deshmukh, on his part, has been speaking about the need to remove this levy for some time now. “I’m aware of the problems being faced by the industry and the business due to octroi. But you can’t withdraw it unilaterally without providing any means of resources to local bodies,” Mr Deshmukh clarified. The 22 municipalities in the state collect over Rs 5,575 crore from octroi. “It’s impossible to pay these local bodies this much amount from the state’s kitty,” he added.
As of now, the state government wants to retain octroi in Mumbai. “The city’s octroi collection is about Rs 3,600 crore. It will take more time to create an alternative to this in Mumbai,” the CM said.
Now, the Deshmukh government has drawn up a plan to divert a portion of VAT collection as suggested by a recent study group. The committee that recommended abolition of octroi has suggested that the state create a special fund by charging additional VAT to compensate the local bodies. “The state government shall, on behalf of the municipal bodies, levy an additional VAT at the rate of 4% on motor spirits and at the rate of 10% of the current VAT rates on other commodities excluding “declared goods”. These additional VAT receipts will not form part of the consolidated fund of the state. The collection shall be kept in a separate account and shall be used to compensate local bodies,” the report states.
But that alone will not suffice. The state’s estimate suggests that the additional VAT collection would be close to Rs 1,800 crore. To make up for the rest, the state will have to allow local bodies to raise property tax. “Idea is to offset the losses of Rs 5,572 crore from the abolition of octroi,” another official said.